Orangutans make and use medicine

Wibbs · 12-01-2018 1:26pm

AllForIt wrote: »

What I think the report shows is that the difference between animals and humans is much smaller than some would think in terms of mental abilities, emotions etc... thus making a very good case against the idea that this planet was designed specifially for us.

Who says the planet was "designed for us" anymore? Never mind that the difference between us and the rest of the animal world is anything but small. That gulf is massive. Hell, the differences between us and our more recent ancestors like Neandertals et al was a wide one(they also self medicated funny enough).

Take tool use. Some animals use tools alright, but point out one that makes one tool to make another different tool. We've been doing that in our various stages for over a million years.

Fizzlesque wrote: »

I think this possibly shows that animals still know stuff that we used to know before we became disconnected from nature. And before making money became bigger (in some minds) than working with nature and accepting its offerings as a way to make our lives better/healthier.

A huge chunk of modern medicine has developed medications from natural sources.

suicide_circus wrote: »

Didn't orangutan cause HIV?

No. It likely jumped to us from Congolese Chimps, initially via hunting for bush meat in the very early 20th century, then really spreading through the use of dirty needles in large scale African vaccination drives in the 40's and 50's, then via of all things a Haitian blood bank in the 1970's that exported large amounts of plasma to the US.

Forward Volatility Agreement wrote: »

Awaits Wibbs' ten thousand word thesis

I'm below par today.

take everything · 12-01-2018 4:22pm

riffmongous wrote: »

I honestly believe that if you sent an orangutan or chimp through the education system they would come out smarter than some of the people I went to school with

Genuinely made me laugh out loud.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 12-01-2018 5:22pm

I read a really interesting thing about Orcas recently.

Apparently they 'speak' in different dialects.

For instance a North Atlantic Orca communicates differently to a Pacific Orca.

This caused problems when Orcas from different parts of the world were integrated together in Sealife parks.

They are noted to be hostile towards each other.

Discodog · 12-01-2018 5:32pm

We are at the tip of the iceberg in understanding the abilities of animals. We have had dogs as Pets for 3000 years but we have only begun to really research them in the last 30.