Thursday, 22 February 2007

Planet of the Apes?

Well, not quite.

But researchers have observed Chimpanzees using spears to hunt other animals.

Apparently this is a previously unknown phenomenon.

As such it raises the question, are Chimps evolving?
Posted by at

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to sound like a skite, dear Fulham...

This isn't news to me. I've always been a fan of the Attenborough Lads, so must confess to having been a doco-addict for much of my youth.

Chimps hunting with 'spears' and 'stones' has been filmed and documented since the 1920's.

I don't think Chimps are evolving, really. It's possible of course! Perhaps they are. I vaguely, (vaguely!), remember reading some reference to Chimps hunting in, say, one of Julius Caesar's journals.

Since I don't have a reference for you to check up, I don't suppose there is really much point in my mentioning it.

I do know it's common for Human In-breeders to end up with many Chimp-like physical features and behaviours...

But these Humans have a tendency to die out before their off-spring could be declared to have become a non-human species.

Interesting topic.
Biology.

Mother Ecclesiastica.

February 25, 2007 4:54 am
bernard said...

Mother elestica:

Not so fanciful as you might think.
Recent genetic journals are seriousy reporting a phenomena called the 'epigenetic effect' in humans. It's complex, but put simpley it means that genetic mutations over evolutionary time may be vastly shorter than pre-supposed. As short as a generation!
The research was prompted by the fact that many fat children could not be made to loose weight, in experiments. And it was not that their fat parents were overfeeding them, but that they had inherited a genetic pre-disposition towards fatness that the parents and grand parents (it runs in families) had they themselves aquired by over-eating through adult life. This 'epi' (means over and above)genetic effect means that humans can influence their meiotic genes by external behaviour.
US Studies.

March 04, 2007 2:21 pm
Anonymous said...

Bernard...?
Does this mean that Lamarck was correct in his hypothesis?

Interesting...

March 21, 2007 10:24 am

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