NOT A CHIMP

Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Texas graduate student attacked by chimps at Goodall sanctuary in South Africa

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/01/12509158-texas-student-attacked-by-chimps-in-south-africa-undergoes-6-hours-of-surgery?lite

Readers of Not A Chimp will be well aware of my ambivalent attitude toward mans "nearest neighbour", or, more precisely, the dangers inherent in mixing too closely with them. Texan student Andrew Oberle is the latest victim of "quick-as-a-flash" chimp violence, in this case because he apparently crossed a crucial territorial line. He is, thankfully, presently recovering after massive surgery to repair his many soft tissue injuries. Ironically, the attack seems to have occurred at a Jane Goodall-funded chimp refuge. How many times.... chimps don't play nice.