Today I’d like to provide two stellar reasons to take more time to study the other animal inhabitants of this extraordinary planet. For many centuries humans have told each other stories of beasts capable of instilling fear into even the bravest of individuals. Some of these tales may have been exaggerated versions of real beasts that people encountered; it’s certainly not difficult to imagine a 16th Century human attributing supernatural features to enormous animals they’d actually seen, but could find absolutely no rational explanation for. When knowledge of these elusive and sometimes terrifying creatures was unavailable, and it was likely that most individuals who would encountered one of these beasts would never meet another person who had, it’s easy to understand how the real events can get faded by folklore as time goes on. Continue reading →

Happy MOTHER’S Day, to all you primate momma’s out there!

In this article, I will attempt to provide the reader with a basic understanding as to the unique and vitally important roles primate mothers play in the development of their offspring as well as why we all ought to take some time today to thank the incredible female primate responsible for their own existence. I will divide this entry up into two parts; first, i’ll provide a general overview of primate mothers in comparison to other mammalian mothers and secondly, i’ll offer a more specific approach to a few species of primate mothers to provide examples. Continue reading →