I am a French graduate student in cognitive sciences, completing my Master degree at the Department of Cognitive Studies, Ecole normale supérieure, in Paris. I hope you will forgive me for the faults you may find in my English...
I am currently working at the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park, in San Diego County, CA, to study two behaviors that have a great place in bonobo society: sex and grooming. Therefore, together with Zanna, who is conducting her Ph.D on bonobos' vocalizations, I spent most of my days watching and recording the two groups that the lucky inhabitants of San Diego can have the pleasure to visit.
(For the rest of the article and the blog, I will use the "I" pronoun because I would not like to associate Zanna on some my reflexions if she does not share them. However, you will see probably that we are very close on many of the topics that will be dealt with in this blog...)
Bonobos are extremly rare and one of the most endangered species of the great apes (As great apes are already highly endangered, you will easily understand the matter...) and very few of them can be found in captivity, in comparison with chimpanzees. I think I will also have the occasion to give my opinion about zoos, life in captivity, life in the wild in this blog. Having a group of 10 at the zoo and a group of 8 at the WAP, San Diego can therefore be really proud of the bonobo population it contains and I hope people will continue to enjoy coming and watching them at both places. If they could, by the same occasion, think about the destiny of their wild cousins in the wild, that could be even more beneficial for them, as well as for us.
The purpose of this blog is to present the bonobos and all the other apes, and even more, if I can, to present striking facts, observations, articles, experiments on animal cognition in general. It will contain both sides of what makes me work in this field: cognition and conservation. Cognition because I received an education in cognitive sciences, and before that, a strong background in molecular and evolutionary biology, and that I am most interested in non-human primate cognition, from an evolutionary point of view to understand the origin of mind and the origin of our mind, but also for the great interest I have always had in the way other animals think. This blog will therefore be the occasion to talk about evolution, about comparative studies and explain the purpose of such research. I will try to present the theory of evolution and try to fight against some remarks heard around the enclosure such as "there are our closest ancestors" and I will particularly insist on the fact that Evolution is not a straightforward line from worms to humans. Most people know accept the theory of evolution as a fact but many of them misunderstand it. I will try to give the best, and I hope, the most accurate and simple view to make understand what are the bases and the consequences of this theory. Going back to evolution is a main point in comparative studies because it allows to draw some conclusions about what our last common ancestor with chimp or bonobos (who themselves share a last common ancestor about 1 million years ago) had already developed in his mind, and the results of such comparative studies help also to understand what we have developed in our specific lineage. However, they also say what the other species have developed in their own lineage as well. Evolution has not stopped for the chimps 6 million years ago when our lineage diverge from their lineage. These last things are examples of what I will try to develop in this blog.
The other main point of this blog is to present the threats and the dangers that threaten great apes now, and the initiatives that are taken to try to avoid the extinction of those species. I think it's part of the job of primatologist to have a strong concern in preservation and to try to support the initiatives taken by local people in sanctuaries or in the wild in Africa or Asia. Therefore I will try to present the sanctuaries or the actions that are developed worldwide, to show that more and more people feel concerned by the fate of our closest relatives and to support them by my tiny little blog. Finally, this blog is the beginning of a journey. I will spend the next two months in San Diego to conduct this pilot study on bonobos. I will analyze the data in Scotland for 2 months before flying to Lola ya bonobo sanctuary in Democratic Republic of Congo for another two months. Therefore, this blog will be my field trip notebook for at least the next six months, but may continue later as I don't expect to stop working with primates before a long time....
I am currently working at the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park, in San Diego County, CA, to study two behaviors that have a great place in bonobo society: sex and grooming. Therefore, together with Zanna, who is conducting her Ph.D on bonobos' vocalizations, I spent most of my days watching and recording the two groups that the lucky inhabitants of San Diego can have the pleasure to visit.
(For the rest of the article and the blog, I will use the "I" pronoun because I would not like to associate Zanna on some my reflexions if she does not share them. However, you will see probably that we are very close on many of the topics that will be dealt with in this blog...)
Bonobos are extremly rare and one of the most endangered species of the great apes (As great apes are already highly endangered, you will easily understand the matter...) and very few of them can be found in captivity, in comparison with chimpanzees. I think I will also have the occasion to give my opinion about zoos, life in captivity, life in the wild in this blog. Having a group of 10 at the zoo and a group of 8 at the WAP, San Diego can therefore be really proud of the bonobo population it contains and I hope people will continue to enjoy coming and watching them at both places. If they could, by the same occasion, think about the destiny of their wild cousins in the wild, that could be even more beneficial for them, as well as for us.
The purpose of this blog is to present the bonobos and all the other apes, and even more, if I can, to present striking facts, observations, articles, experiments on animal cognition in general. It will contain both sides of what makes me work in this field: cognition and conservation. Cognition because I received an education in cognitive sciences, and before that, a strong background in molecular and evolutionary biology, and that I am most interested in non-human primate cognition, from an evolutionary point of view to understand the origin of mind and the origin of our mind, but also for the great interest I have always had in the way other animals think. This blog will therefore be the occasion to talk about evolution, about comparative studies and explain the purpose of such research. I will try to present the theory of evolution and try to fight against some remarks heard around the enclosure such as "there are our closest ancestors" and I will particularly insist on the fact that Evolution is not a straightforward line from worms to humans. Most people know accept the theory of evolution as a fact but many of them misunderstand it. I will try to give the best, and I hope, the most accurate and simple view to make understand what are the bases and the consequences of this theory. Going back to evolution is a main point in comparative studies because it allows to draw some conclusions about what our last common ancestor with chimp or bonobos (who themselves share a last common ancestor about 1 million years ago) had already developed in his mind, and the results of such comparative studies help also to understand what we have developed in our specific lineage. However, they also say what the other species have developed in their own lineage as well. Evolution has not stopped for the chimps 6 million years ago when our lineage diverge from their lineage. These last things are examples of what I will try to develop in this blog.
The other main point of this blog is to present the threats and the dangers that threaten great apes now, and the initiatives that are taken to try to avoid the extinction of those species. I think it's part of the job of primatologist to have a strong concern in preservation and to try to support the initiatives taken by local people in sanctuaries or in the wild in Africa or Asia. Therefore I will try to present the sanctuaries or the actions that are developed worldwide, to show that more and more people feel concerned by the fate of our closest relatives and to support them by my tiny little blog. Finally, this blog is the beginning of a journey. I will spend the next two months in San Diego to conduct this pilot study on bonobos. I will analyze the data in Scotland for 2 months before flying to Lola ya bonobo sanctuary in Democratic Republic of Congo for another two months. Therefore, this blog will be my field trip notebook for at least the next six months, but may continue later as I don't expect to stop working with primates before a long time....
TG
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