Jungle Fever

I just spotted a little news article from yesterday's online edition of the Boston Globe: Apparently, the ancestors of chimps and we humans may have gotten a little lovey-eyed in our early stages of species development, which is a little eewwy just to think about - unless of course you're into bestiality, in which case the story may instead be inspiring.


Quoting the Globe article: ''I find this terrifically exciting and important work," said David Pilbeam, a Harvard paleontologist.

Hmmm. Bestiality, indeed....

You can check out the story yourself HERE. And I suppose it's worth mentioning, in case I've grossed-out anyone reading this blog, that the article is talking about ancestors of chimps and humans, not the modern versions around today. We were, after all, pretty stupid back in the early stages of our existence.

The article goes on to mention that it may also be possible that we modern humans are the end result of inter-species breeding with early pre-chimps, which might be stretching genetic credibility a bit. (It's too bad, though, that the X-Files couldn't have picked up on the chimp-human thing instead of that silly, over-used alien conspiracy premise.)

In Other News...

Photo: Marco Barelds
From the Associated Press: SLOTH BEARS actually ate a macaque monkey as horrified zoo visitors looked on in Amsterdam, Netherlands.


Says the article: Ignoring attempts by keepers to distract it, the bear climbed onto a horizontal pole, and, standing stretched on two legs, "used its sharp canines to pull the macaque, which was shrieking and resisting, from its perch." The bear then brought the animal to a concrete den, where three bears ate it.

No, I am not shocked that animals ate another animal in plain sight of humans. What is interesting to note is that sloth bears don't usually eat larger animals, such as that monkey. (Their diet is primarily termites, fruits, and other vegetation.) Which leads me to wonder: how well fed were those bears? Or perhaps it has to do with their captive habitat. Whatever. All I know is that an innocent monkey is dead now, and those sloth bears have some explaining to do to PETA. >:-
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