Held Captive...angry eyes

J

Justabuyer

Joined
May 7, 2006
Messages
3,338
Took these today....

Monkey1.jpg

Monkey2.jpg

Tiger1.jpg

Camel1.jpg

Camel2.jpg

Cat1.jpg

Lion1.jpg
 
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The leopard looks angry, to me the rest seem more resentful than angry, a bit sad.
 
Monkey looks like the key thief critter from Night at the Museum.

The leopard looks like Tigger with measles and an attitude.
 
I boycott the circus, it is wrong to parade animals around for amusement. Zoos, I can tolerate as long it is about preservation of the species. It is still sad. It is always best to let wild animals be free in their habitat. Like posters on BF!!!:D:D:D
 
cj65 said:
I boycott the circus, it is wrong to parade animals around for amusement. Zoos, I can tolerate as long it is about preservation of the species. It is still sad. It is always best to let wild animals be free in their habitat. Like posters on BF!!!:D:D:D
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Each has a trainer handler. They get walked and worked regularly.

The cages and environments are spotlessly clean and the staff seems very commited to the animals. But yes, these are working animals.

Sad? Maybe. But so is life for animals in the wild. Animals do not die of old age. They get no medical care, no pain relief. In the wild animals die of accident, illness, starvation or predation. None of those is a fun way to go.

I guess sad is relative to your view point.

I think somebody may be to influenced by Walt Disney.
 
Not one of those animals is thinking anything like angry, resentful, or sad. They are bored or hungry or fed. Animal that get to interact, in shows, can get interested or even excited. Otherwise, they 'animal', they just exist. To do anything more, they need a fairly natural environment and company of their own kind.

I think somebody may be too influenced by Walt Disney.
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Exactly.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Not one of those animals is thinking anything like angry, resentful, or sad. They are bored or hungry or fed. Animal that get to interact, in shows, can get interested or even excited. Otherwise, they 'animal', they just exist. To do anything more, they need a fairly natural environment and company of their own kind.
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Tell that to Koko. The talking Gorilla...
 
Specific animals like Koko have extremely enriched environments. Actually, gorillas and chimps are intelligent in ways most animals don't come close to. But the cattle and the killers are creatures of instinct and ingestion. Feed them and leave them alone and mentally, they vegetate.
 
Koko (born July 4, 1971, in San Francisco, California) is a lowland gorilla who, according to Francine 'Penny' Patterson, is able to understand more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language,[1] and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English.[2] She has lived most of her life in Woodside, California, although a move to a sanctuary in Maui, Hawaii has been planned since the 1990s.[3] She was also the inspiration for Amy the talking ape in the Michael Crichton novel Congo, and for Sophie from the X-Files episode Fearful Symmetry.

Koko is short for the name Hanabi-Ko, meaning "fireworks child" in Japanese (a reference to her date of birth, the Fourth of July).

Contents [hide]
1 Use of language
2 Michael and Ndume
3 Koko's cats
4 Sexual harassment
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
8.1 Online video



[edit] Use of language
Some scientists[who?] say that Koko's use of signs, and her actions consistent with her use of signs, indicate she has mastered the use of sign language.[1] Others argue[who?] that she does not understand the meaning behind what she is doing, but learns to complete the signs simply because the researchers reward her for doing so (indicating that her actions are the product of operant conditioning).[4][5] However, the latter position is not consistent with the claims that Koko uses the language freely and in novel ways, even when there is no foreseeable gratification.[6] Another concern that has been raised about Koko's ability to express coherent thoughts through the use of signs is that interpretation of the gorilla's conversation is left to the handler, who may see improbable concatenations of signs as meaningful.

Patterson says she has documented Koko inventing new signs to communicate novel thoughts. For example, she says that nobody taught Koko the word for "ring", therefore to refer to it she combined the words "finger" and "bracelet", hence "finger-bracelet". Similarly, Patterson says that Koko invented "drink-fruit" (melon), "water-bird" (swan) and "animal-person" (gorilla).[citation needed]

Criticism from some parts of the scientific community centers on the fact that while publications often appear in the popular press about Koko, scientific publications are fewer in number.[7][8]

Such debate requires careful consideration of what it means to 'learn' or 'use' a language (see animal language for further discussion). This debate has been ongoing since the first ape sign language experiments with the chimpanzee Washoe in the 1960s. Other well-known signing apes include chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky and the orangutan Chantek. Gorillas and bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) are relatively adept with certain forms of communication, whereas common chimpanzees and orangutans tend toward mastery of manual skills.

Koko's training began at the age of one. Patterson has assessed Koko's vocabulary at over 1,000 signs, which would place her among the most proficient non-human users of language.[9][unreliable source?]


[edit] Michael and Ndume
Patterson claims that Michael, a gorilla who lived with Koko for several years, also developed a broad vocabulary of signs, over 600, but did not become as proficient as Koko before his death in 2000. Michael's caregivers believe that he witnessed and remembered his mother's death at the hands of poachers, but was unable to clearly express the event. In the PBS Nature special Koko: Conversation with a Gorilla a group of Michael's signs is interpreted to be an attempt to convey a description of his mother being shot as he watched. While it was intended that Koko and Michael might produce a baby gorilla and teach it to sign, the two saw each other as siblings and did not mate.

Another gorilla, named Ndume, was selected by Koko from a group of videotapes shown to her by her "Mother" Penny, who played several tapes showing male apes of her species, in what may be described as an attempt at "video-dating." Despite these efforts, Koko and Ndume have also not become mates.


[edit] Koko's cats
Although not unique, Koko is one of the few non-humans known to keep pets of a different species. She has cared for several cats over the years and Koko's relationship with All Ball was featured in the 1987 book Koko's Kitten (Scholastic Press, ISBN 0-590-44425-5), which was written by Patterson.

Other gorillas known to have cared for pets include Toto.


[edit] Sexual harassment
Koko has been involved in a number of sexual harassment lawsuits.[10] At least three former female employees have claimed that they were pressured into showing their breasts to Koko. They alleged that Patterson encouraged the behavior, often interpreted Koko's signs as requests for nipple display, and let them know that their job would be in danger if they "did not indulge Koko's nipple fetish." Koko has been known to playfully grab both male and female nipples without warning or provocation. Patterson claims that Koko uses the word "nipple" to refer to humans.[11]

All claims of harassment have been permanently dropped as of November 21, 2005 after the foundation and the parties involved reached a settlement.[12]

Jody Weiner, Koko's lawyer, writes about Koko and sexual harassment in the book Kinship With Animals.[13]

Thank Goodness Esav, tigers are not as smart as apes. Can you imagine a Tiger with a nipple fetish?
 
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Esav Benyamin said:
Specific animals like Koko have extremely enriched environments. Actually, gorillas and chimps are intelligent in ways most animals don't come close to. But the cattle and the killers are creatures of instinct and ingestion. Feed them and leave them alone and mentally, they vegetate.
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I watched a fascinating documentary on Chimps and their ability to reason better than a 4 year old human.

It also discussed their ability to invent and utilize tools.

One major difference between the other primates and humans however is that humans have a natural desire to teach their progeny and even others the abilities they have discovered. The other primates may invent a new technique or tool, but all the others in the tribe have to learn by observation or not at all.

This leaves the humans with the natural technological progession of each generation moving further and further from the starting line, while the other primates continually move back to square one as the Einstein of their generation dies and no one remembers what he discovered.
 
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