Monday, July 13, 2020

CROSS RIVER GORILLAS


Posted by Chic Silber at 7/13/2020 02:12:00 PM

2 comments:

Roger Smith said...

For a related treatment, read Lindsay Stern's article, "The Divide", exploring man's relationship to the Bonobos, in the July-August issue of SMITHSONIAN Magazine.

The April issue features "The Comeback", an encouraging look at the rebounding populations of the mountain gorilla. This one by Mark Jenkins, with photos by Neil Ever Osborne.

The same issue examines "Mind Craft", by Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, an effort by mankind to understand the mentality of the Asian elephant. The article leads me to believe no one there is learning anything. If they really want to know, all they have to do is come down off their college campus ivory towers and talk to circus elephant trainers, who have lifetimes of direct knowledge from 24/7 hands-on contact.

13 July, 2020 21:18
Tony Greiner said...

Roger, I read an interesting book last year, "Giants of the Monsoon Forest" by Jacob Shell. It is about the last large number of working elephants, in the forests of Burma, and the relationship they have with their Mahouts. He makes the interesting proposal that the survival of the species will depend on continuing and expanding the human-elephant relationship. The book contains stories of various acts of elephant intelligence and loyalty- and the same from humans.

Since those working elephants are allowed to roam every night (and sometimes take vacations in the forest) they might be an even better group to study than that of circus elephants, but that species is under such pressure that I wouldn't want to discourage any group that wants to save them.

15 July, 2020 14:50

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