GOING TO RESTAURANTS IN KYRGYZSTAN: WHAT’S HAPPENING?

When you first arrive in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, picking up some city guides/maps of the city you are in is always a smart move. There is an excellent city guide called Welcome Journal available in Bishkek as well as a couple free maps of the city. (There are good maps available in Osh as well.) The city guides in Kyrgyzstan can give you a lot of helpful information about hotels, tourism related companies, and restaurants. If you are interested in Bishkek nightlife or nightlife in Osh, Kyrgyzstan especially, a city guide is a good item to obtain for finding popular pubs and restaurants.

Since all visitors to Kyrgyzstan will undoubtedly be spending a lot of time in Kyrgyzstan’s restaurants and cafes, it is on this area that I’d like to expand and give you a few tips in order to help prepare you for the restaurant culture in Kyrgyzstan.

WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?

So let’s say you have your city guide in hand, your stomach is growling from your gazillion-hour long flight, and you select a tempting-looking restaurant in which to alleviate your hunger pangs. Now comes the fun part: functioning in Kyrgyzstan’s restaurant culture.

First of all, when you walk into a restaurant or café, just pick a spot and sit down somewhere. Unless you are in a really upscale restaurant, they will not have a hostess that guides you to a table. Someone will notice that you sat down and will come take care of your order.

Ordering in a restaurant in Kyrgyzstan

Always have 2-3 possible options in mind when you order in a restaurant in Kyrgyzstan. It is possible that your first choice is not being served that day for one reason or another, so you will have to move onto option two or possibly three. In small village cafes, it is better to ignore the menu altogether and just ask the waiter/waitress to tell you what they have available.

Service during Your Meal

Once your server has taken your order (drinks and food at the same time usually), they will come around occasionally to clear napkins off the table to clear away unused dishes, but otherwise, will not stop by to ask if you want refills on your drink or anything like that. If you need something, you usually have to flag them down.

Your server will also bring dishes out as they are ready, not wait for your whole table’s order to be ready and then serve it.

Tips in Kyrgyzstan

So now you have devoured your food, gotten your server’s attention, and they’ve brought you the check (or in village cafes, just told you how much you owe). You look at the check, but do not read Russian well and think frantically to yourself, “Oh no, do people tip in Kyrgyzstan? is the tip included in the bill?” Don’t worry. Gratuity should already be added onto the bill when you receive it (or the total that was told to you by your server), so there is no need to give additional tips in Kyrgyzstan unless you would like to of course. No one minds extra tips!

Can I Pay with Credit Card?

Some restaurants in the larger cities accept credit cards, but by and large it is much better to carry cash with you. In villages, paying with cash is a must.

The Price of Restaurants in Kyrgyzstan

If you visit a typical, run-of-the-mill restaurant or café in a larger city in Kyrgyzstan, an entrée can cost you anywhere from 120-300 soms ($2-5). If you are out enjoying the nightlife in Bishkek or Osh, Kyrgyzstan and order a larger meal that includes a salad, entrée, bread, and non-alcoholic beverage, you can safely estimate that it will cost you around 350-450 soms ($5.50-7.50). So really, the price of travel in Kyrgyzstan is extremely affordable with regard to eating out.  If you are eating in a village café, the price of travel in Kyrgyzstan is even more outrageously affordable because village food is much cheaper than city food. It is possible to order a huge entrée for as little as 100 soms (less than $2).

BON APPETIT!

So depending on the country you are coming from, service and restaurant culture in Kyrgyzstan might look rather different than your home country. However, it is fairly easy to cope with as long as you walk into restaurants knowing these few key facts. As you travel around Kyrgyzstan, I highly recommend trying a wide variety of restaurants, not just frequenting the first one you go to and like. In the cities there is a variety of cuisine you can try including Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Uigur, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Russian, Polish, etc. Treat your palette to all the different tastes you can find and Kyrgyzstan and enjoy the experience!

Photo from source: http://ift.tt/1Fk1omQ, photo from source: http://ift.tt/1DHbdG6 source: www.riceandwheat.com, photo by Ekaterina Ivashenko, photos by Vlad Ushakov

RUG WEAVING TOUR (ARMENIA – NAGORNO KARABAKH)

TOUR PROGRAM

1

Day 1: Arrival in Yerevan

Itinerary

Arrival in Yerevan, accommodation in hotel, free time

Meals

- - -

Accomodation

Hotel

Uzbekistan – On the Silk Road

TOUR PROGRAM

1

Day 1: Tashkent

Itinerary

Meeting upon arrival.

Transfer to hotel. Afternoon sightseeing in Tashkent with visits to Kukeldash Madrassah, Mosque on Khasty Imam Street, visit to Chor-Su (handicraft bazaar). Museum of Applied Arts (if time allows). Amir Temur Monument and Square.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

2

Day 2: Tashkent - Beldersay - Chimgan - Charvak - Tashkent

Itinerary

Morning drive to Tashkent region mountain area (80 km). Arrival to the station of Beldersay chair-lift (1530 m height). Take the Chair-lift to the upper station (3 km distance). Walk up to Kumbel summit (2200 m height). Observing the surrounding area and horse riding. Descent back to the station of Beldersay chair-lift. Drive via Chimgan village to Charvak water reservoir. Lunch at local café.

Afternoon transfer back to Tashkent.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

3

Day 3: Tashkent - Yangikazgan

Itinerary

Morning drive to Yangikazgan via mountain area – Forish. Stops en route for observing the surrounding area and taking photos. Observing Aydarkul Lake. Picnic lunch at the lake upon arrival.

Further drive via desert to Yurt camp for accommodation. Camel riding. Dinner in steppe with the camp fire Akyn singings afterwards.

Meals

B L D

Accomodation

Yurt Camp

4

Day 4: Yangikazgan - Samarkand

Itinerary

After breakfast drive to Samarkand (185 km) with short visit to the desert Salt Lakes (20km). Accommodation in hotel. Dinner at local restaurant.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

5

Day5: Samarkand

Itinerary

Day of sightseeing in Samarkand with visits to all of the historical sights, museums and the Observatory of Ulugbek. Time for exploring the famous Siyob bazaar in the afternoon.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

6

Day 6: Samarkand - Shahrisabz - Bukhara

Itinerary

Morning drive to Bukhara via Urgut village (short visit to local bazaar on Saturday and Sundays), Kitab Pass and Shakhrisabz city. En route sightseeing tour in Shakhrisabz- the birth-place of Amir Temur.

Lunch at local family in Shakhrisabz. Tour In Shakhrisabz with visits to Ak Sarai, Dorus saodat and Dorut Tilovat Complexes. Drive to Bukhara later in the afternoon. Accommodation in hotel upon arrival to Bukhara.

Dinner at local restaurant with folk show.

Meals

B L D

Accomodation

Hotel

7

Day 7: Bukhara

Itinerary

Sightseeing tour in Bukhara: wondering around the historical sights, narrow streets of Bukhara and the Jewish block with the synagogue and the historically significant sights of Old Town.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

8

Day 8: Bukhara - Khiva

Itinerary

Drive to Khiva via desert (530km). Stops on route for sightseeing, observing the surrounding area and taking photos, in particular you will have an opportunity to see 2 desert Lakes. Lunch on route at road cafe. Upon arrival accommodation in hotel and dinner.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

9

Day 9: Khiva

Itinerary

Sightseeing in Khiva with its amazing Ichan Kala town part, fully located inside the walls built to protect the town from the enemy.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

10

Day 10: Khiva - Toprak Kala - Ayaz Kala

Itinerary

Drive to Toprak Kala, visit to ancient settlements ruins. Afterwards drive to Ayaz Kala and get accommodated in the Yurts built by Ayaz Kala settlement ruins. Picnic lunch at Yurt camp. Excursion of Ayazkala - series of three fortresses.

Meals

B L D

Accomodation

Yurt camp

11

Day 11: Ayaz Kala - Nukus - Tashkent

Itinerary

Morning drive to Nukus after breakfast. Visit to the world famous State Art Museum of Nukus named after Igor Savitsky. Evening domestic flight to Tashkent. Late dinner upon arrival in Tashkent and overnight in Tashkent.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

12

Day 12: Tashkent

Itinerary

Flight back home. (We suggest to add one day in Tashkent for relaxing and exploring the town on foot before departure back home).

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

_ _ _

Almaty Sightseeing Tour: 9 Excursions

TOUR PROGRAM

1

Day 1: Arrival in Almaty

Itinerary

Arrival. Accommodation at the hotel.

Meals

- - -

Accomodation

Hotel

2

Day 2: Almaty city tour

Itinerary

Breakfast at the hotel. City tour: Panfilov Heroes Park, Memorial of Glory and Eternal Flame, National Museum of Musical Instruments, and Green Bazaar.

The tour will continue at the State Square and at the Historical Museum.

Then the tour route will take you to the Medeo Gorge, where you will stop by the huge Medeo dam, which protects the city from destructive mudflows formed on the tops of the western Tien Shan. On the top of the dam, at the altitude of 1733 meters above sea level, you will enjoy an amazing panorama of the largest high mountain skating rink in the world – Medeo, surrounded by wonderful mountains of Trans-Ili Alatau. Further, transfer on the cable gondola on a ski resort Chimbulak, located at 2230 meters above sea level.

Dinner at the restaurant. Show-program.

Overnight at the hotel.

Meals

B _ D

Accomodation

Hotel

3

Day 3: Almaty – Charyn Canyon – Almaty (300 km)

Itinerary

Breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast, transfer to Charyn Canyon. Trekking along the Valley of Castles – majestic monument, erected by nature.

Lunch at the café along Charyn River. Return to the city.

Overnight at the hotel.

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

Hotel

4

Day 4: Almaty – Big Almaty Lake – «Sunkar» - Almaty

Itinerary

Breakfast. After breakfast, the start of excursion to the Big Almaty Lake, located 20 km to the south from Almaty.

There are several picturesque lakes in the Mount of Zailiskiy Alatau. One of them is Bolshoe Almatinskoe (Big Almaty Lake). It is especially beautiful in the morning, when the blue surface reflects the sky and surrounding mountains. Kazakh name of this lake is Zhasylkol, which means Blue Lake.

The excursion will impress you at any time of year. Even in winter, when the entire surface covered by ice and snow, it charms by its capacity and mystery. You will see incredible beauty of mountain, get acquainted with flora and fauna, learn its history of the region.

After excursion, return to Almaty.

After Big Almaty Lake, you visit the Kok-Tobe Hill, where the tallest TV Tower in the world is located and where you will get by the picturesque winding mountain road. At the top of the hill, you can admire the magnificent panorama of the city from the special observation deck, stroll along the winding paths of the Kok-Tobe park, visit the shop of national souvenirs, and see the monument devoted to The Beatles (the only one in CIS countries) as well as many other interesting things.

The tour ends with the short ride from the top of the hill to the center of the city by the famous Almaty cableway.

Overnight at the hotel.

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

Hotel

5

Day 5: Almaty – Issyk Lake

Itinerary

Breakfast.

This tour takes you to one of the most beautiful gorges of Trans-Ili-Alatau, Issyk Gorge, which lies along the Kuldja tract where hundreds of years ago the trade caravans traveled. On the way you will learn a lot about the nature and history of this region and see the burial mounds of Saka period, where the famous Golden Man was found, which has become the state symbol of the Republic of Kazakhstan. You will also visit the original farm complex – Ostrich Farm, where you will not just see the African ostriches, but also have an opportunity to taste dishes cooked from ostrich meat and eggs. Then the tour route will take you to an altitude of 1756 meters above sea level, to the beautiful mountain Issyk Lake, located in the valley with the same name.

Back to the hotel. Overnight at the hotel.

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

Hotel

6

Day 6: Almaty – Tamgaly

Itinerary

Breakfast.

This route provides you a great opportunity not only enjoy the beautiful natural landscapes of Almaty region, but also see the one of the unique monuments of the past – Tamgaly, is one of the ancient and bright monuments of petroglyph art. Tamgaly Gorge is located at 170 km to north-west from Almaty. Average quantity of drawings at the main gorge – approximately 2000.

Back to the hotel. Overnight at the hotel.

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

Hotel

7

Day 7: Almaty – Turgen Gorge - Almaty

Itinerary

Breakfast.

Excursion to the Turgen Gorge, which is located on the territory of Ile-Alatau State Natural Park in 90 km from Almaty. It is known for the coniferous and mixed woods, relic moss fir groves, creeping on the ground and farming a fir-tree carpet. Excursion to Bear Waterfall – the most available, its height is 28 meters.

Overnight at the hotel.

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

Hotel

8

Day 8: Almaty – airport

Itinerary

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to the airport.

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

- - -

Mount Resort-hotel “Forest Tale”

TOUR PROGRAM

1

Day 1: Almaty – Forest Tale

Itinerary

Arrival. Transfer to Mount Resort-hotel Forest Tale. Check-in at the Ak Tas hotel.

Meals

- - -

Accomodation

Hotel

2

Day 2: Forest Tale

Itinerary

Breakfast at the hotel. Horse riding on the route Surroundings of Fairy Tale.

Horse route along flat district is ideal for observing vicinities of Forest Tale and beauty of Ile-Alatausky national park with whole family. Children (up 10 years) are allowed to participate a horse route pass together with parents. On the route, you enjoy the picturesque glades with meadow flowers, pass by the house of huntsman of the national park, take pictures against the gorge and numerous bushes and hawthorn trees, dogrose and apple-tree.

The route is ideal for beginners, who wish to adapt horses with confidence on the saddle and to discover horseback riding for the first time.

Free time. Night at the hotel.

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

Hotel

3

Day 3: Forest Tale - Almaty

Itinerary

Breakfast – at the hotel. Free time. Transfer to the airport. Depart home.

Meals

B _ _

Accomodation

- - -

Female chimps more inclined to use tools when hunting

It was a discovery that changed what researchers knew about the hunting techniques of chimpanzees. In 2007, Jill Pruetz first reported savanna chimps at her research site in Fongoli, Senegal, were using tools to hunt prey. That alone was significant, but what also stood out to Pruetz was the fact that female chimps were the ones predominantly hunting with tools.

It was a point some dismissed or criticized because of the small sample size, but the finding motivated the Iowa State University anthropology professor to learn more. In the years following, Pruetz and her research team have documented more than 300 tool-assisted hunts. Their results, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, support the initial findings — female chimps hunt with tools more than males.

Generally, adult male chimps are the main hunters and capture prey by hand. Researchers observed both male and female chimps using tools, but more than half of the hunts — 175 compared to 130 — were by females. While males made up about 60 percent of the hunting group, only around 40 percent of the hunts were by males.

“It’s just another example of diversity in chimp behavior that we keep finding the longer we study wild chimps,” Pruetz said. “It is more the exception than the rule that you’ll find some sort of different behavior, even though we’ve studied chimps extensively.”

Both male and female chimps primarily pursued galagos, or bush babies, in tool-assisted hunts. Pruetz says the chimps used a spear-like tool to jab at the animal hiding in tree cavities. She added that one explanation for the sex difference in tool use is that male chimps tended to be more opportunistic.

“What would often happen is the male would be in the vicinity of another chimp hunting with a tool, often a female, and the bush baby was able to escape the female and the male grabbed the bush baby as it fled,” Pruetz said.

Why only Fongoli?

The savanna chimps at Fongoli are the only non-human population to consistently hunt prey with tools. Why is that the case? Pruetz, Walvoord Professor of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Iowa State, says a better question may be why are chimps at other sites not using this technique? It may be that they never learned the technique, she said. Tool hunting also may be a result of social tolerance that doesn’t exist at other chimp sites.

“At Fongoli, when a female or low-ranking male captures something, they’re allowed to keep it and eat it. At other sites, the alpha male or other dominant male will come along and take the prey. So there’s little benefit of hunting for females, if another chimp is just going to take their prey item.”

The environment is another factor. Pruetz says there are no red colobus monkeys, the preferred prey of chimps at other sites, because of the dry conditions at Fongoli. The bush babies are more prevalent and prey that female chimps can access using tools.

Hunting vs. gathering

Pruetz, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, is often asked why the female’s use of tools is considered hunting rather than gathering. It’s a question that reflects stereotypes associated with female chimp behavior. The similarities to termite or ant fishing, which is sometimes used as a comparison for tool-assisted hunting, are superficial, she said. The behavior of the prey and effort required by the hunter is different.

“Fishing for termites is a very different activity than jabbing for a bush baby,” Pruetz said. “With fishing, termites grab on to a twig and don’t let go and the chimp eats the termites off the twig. When hunting, the bush baby tries to bite, escape or hide from the chimp. The chimps are really averse to being bitten by a bush baby.”

While a bush baby is smaller than and not as fierce as a monkey, Pruetz says it is really no different than humans hunting doves instead of deer. Ultimately, the tool-assisted hunting allows female chimps, which may be less likely to run down prey, access to a nutritional food source, Pruetz said.

Paco Bertolani, Cambridge University; Mack Shelley, Stacy Lindshield and Kelly Boyer Ontl, Iowa State University; and Erin Wessling, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, all contributed to this report.

Chimpanzees show ability to plan route in computer mazes

Chimpanzees are capable of some degree of planning for the future, in a manner similar to human children, while some species of monkeys struggle with this task, according to researchers at Georgia State University, Wofford College and Agnes Scott College.

Their findings were published on March 23 in the Journal of Comparative Psychology.

The study assessed the planning abilities of chimpanzees, two monkey species (rhesus macaques and capuchin monkeys) and human children (ages 28 to 66 months old) using a computerized game-like program that presented 100 unique mazes to the participants and required them to move a cursor through a maze to reach a goal at the bottom of the screen.

“The chimpanzees proved to be quite good at the task, although monkeys showed more trouble with the harder mazes that required greater inhibition and more anticipation of future ‘trouble spots’ in the mazes,” said Dr. Michael Beran, associate director of the Language Research Center at Georgia State. “These data highlight the capacity of chimpanzees — and to a more limited degree, monkeys — to anticipate and plan future moves in these game-like tasks, a prerequisite for more complicated types of future-oriented cognition.”

The study found variability in the performance within each species and across ages in children, suggesting that a number of other cognitive processes may influence planning. The performance differences could be attributed to differences in focused attention, overall brain size and social systems, the study said.

Children were good at negotiating their way through the maze, although older children performed better than younger children. Chimpanzees were better at the computerized maze task than both species of monkeys. Monkeys had difficulty with the task when they were required to change directions or move away from the ultimate goal in order to eventually reach it, suggesting limited abilities to plan movements through this form of maze.

The mazes varied in difficulty, and participants had to make one, two or three choices within the maze that could potentially have irreversible errors. The easiest mazes could be completed by simply moving the cursor in the direction of the goal, but others required a reversal of direction at one of the choice points or movement away from the goal in order to eventually reach it.

To achieve the best performance, subjects sometimes had to plan ahead to the end of the maze in order to move the cursor in the correct direction, avoid traps and reverse directions, if needed. Human children from a local preschool were included in the study to see how closely the nonhuman primates matched their performance.

The research team also included Audrey Parrish and Theodore Evans of Georgia State, Sara Futch of Wofford and Dr. Bonnie Perdue of Agnes Scott.

This study was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Georgia State University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Inbreeding Makes Mountain Gorillas Genetically Healthy

…scientists have discovered inbreeding has actually benefitted mountain gorillas by removing many harmful genetic variations. They are also genetically adapted to living in small populations.The authors of the findings, published in the journal Science, said it is the first project to sequence whole genomes from mountain gorillas.”We worried that the dramatic decline in the 1980s would be catastrophic for mountain gorillas in the long term, but our genetic analyses suggest that gorillas have been coping with small population sizes for thousands of years,” said lead author Dr Yali Xue, from the Sanger Institute.”While comparable levels of inbreeding contributed to the extinction of our relatives, the Neanderthals, mountain gorillas may be more resilient. There is no reason why they should not flourish for thousands of years to come.”Full story here. —————————————–

Luke Donald Leads in Sun City

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Chimps Don’t Have Same Rights as Humans, Court Says

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Chimp Bats A Drone Straight Out Of The Air With A Stick

[embedded content]Flying a drone into a chimpanzee habitat to get some footage from previously unseen vantage points probably seemed like a good idea in theory. The thing that the people at the controls must’ve forgotten is that chimps would likely– and did– react unfavorably to a noisy whirligig flying all up in their personal space and getting all up in their business.Full story here. —————————————–

New Monkey Species Revealed Thanks To Distinctive Penis

Meet the world’s newest monkey. The white-cheeked macaque, Macaca leucogenys, has been discovered in south-eastern Tibet, in biodiverse yet poorly studied forests in the politically volatile area.It is distinguished from the other four macaque species in the region by its rounded glans penis and a dark, hairy scrotum. Other macaques there have a spear-shaped glans penis and white scrotums. It also has thick, long hair around its neck, unlike the other four species.It forages in a wide range of habitats, from tropical forests at an altitude of 1395 metres up to at 2700 metres in mixed forests of broad-leaves and conifers. The landscape of Tibetan state Modog, where it was found, encompasses low-lying grasslands, tropical and evergreen forests and alpine meadows, providing habitats for a great diversity of species.Full story here. —————————————–

Chimps Don’t Have Same Rights as Humans, Court Says

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Oil Dispute Takes a Page From Congo’s Bloody Past

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The hoo’s hoo of gibbon communication

The secret communication of gibbons has been interpreted for the first time in a study published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. The research reveals the likely meaning of a number of distinct gibbon whispers, or ‘hoo’ calls, responding to particular events and types of predator, and could provide clues on the evolution of human speech.

While lar gibbons (Hylobates lar) are mainly known for their loud and conspicuous songs, they can also produce a number of soft call types known as ‘hoo’s. These subtle calls have been alluded to in studies dating back to 1940, but due to their volume, they are virtually indistinguishable to the human ear and have been difficult to record and analyse.

Researchers using modern recording technology and computer analysis have revealed that distinct hoo calls are made in response to specific events, such as foraging and encountering neighbours, and that subtle differences even distinguish between different predators when used as a warning.

Lead author Esther Clarke said: “These animals are extraordinarily vocal creatures and give us the rare opportunity to study the evolution of complex vocal communication in a non-human primate. In the future, gibbon vocalisations may reveal much about the processes that shape vocal communication, and because they are an ape species, they may be one of our best hopes at tracing the evolution of human communication.”

The researchers spent almost four months following lar gibbon groups around the forests of North-eastern Thailand. The gibbons were usually followed from the first encounter in the morning until they had located their evening sleeping tree, while researchers recorded their hoos and noted the event that elicited the response. From the recordings they extracted over 450 hoo sounds and used computer analysis to find links between audio patterns and the context in which they were recorded.

The gibbons reliably produced individual hoo calls for different contexts, including foraging, predator detection, encountering neighbours, and as part of duet songs by mated pairs. In addition to differences between contexts, the team also discovered subtle hoo variations within contexts, for example to distinguish between different types of predator.

The team investigated the responses to a range of predators including clouded leopards, tigers, pythons, and raptors including eagle owls and crested serpent eagles. In addition to real predator observations, they presented fake model predators in realistic poses for the rarer animals.

Raptor hoos were acoustically distinct — less intense, shorter and with a smaller frequency span than the other hoos, making them the least audible. Raptors hear best in the range of 1-4kHz, while gibbon hoos are consistently below the 1kHz threshold. The raptor hoos were the lowest frequency of all and could help gibbons avoid attracting the attention of the predator.

Tiger and leopard hoos were similar, suggesting that callers perceived these two predators as belonging to the same ‘big cat’ class.

While both gibbon sexes displayed similar hoo calls, female calls were lower in frequency than male ones. The researchers say this is surprising, as among mammals, males tend to have lower frequency voices than females.

Females also typically did not produce hoo vocalisations when encountering neighbours and often remained passive and removed, while males engaged and interacted with neighbouring individuals.

The researchers say the study is of direct relevance for the on-going debate about the evolution of human speech. The ability to produce calls that are context-specific is necessary for communication where an actor refers a recipient’s attention to an external event.

This behaviour appears to be widespread and was likely present in the ancestor of modern primates and humans. The acoustic variation seen in gibbon hoos in particular may be similar to human speech, in which subtle acoustic parameters, like pitch, can be important carriers of meaning.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by BioMed Central. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Chimps Don’t Have Same Rights as Humans, Court Says

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For ticks, researchers find lemur noses to be males only in Madagascar

Ticks have long been known to inhabit the noses of chimpanzees, presumably because the chimps aren’t able to pluck them off during grooming.

Now scientists from Ohio State University, Duke University and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium report that ticks are also prevalent in the noses of endangered lemurs. Their findings appear in an article in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

While surveying the health of lemurs in their natural environments in Madagascar, the researchers took the opportunity to study the ectoparasites found on two wild populations in Madagascar known as diademed sifakas (Propithecus diadema). An inspection of 87 individual lemurs under anesthesia revealed mites, lice, flies, leeches, and Haemaphysalis lemuris, a tick that was previously known to prey on lemurs. But the scientists were surprised by the location of the ticks, most of which were found in the lemurs’ nares. At one research site, 64% of all H. lemuris ticks were found inside the nostrils.

“The most interesting observations deal with the attachment site selection of H. lemuris,” they wrote. “There are anecdotal records of ticks attached in the noses of humans, and a report of frequent occurrence of ticks in the noses in a population of chimpanzees, but the current observation, documenting such a prominent use of the nose as attachment site for ticks (64% of all H. lemuris recovered at Ambatovy) is unusual.”

Even more interesting, all 295 of the ticks collected from the lemurs’ noses were male, and more males were found around the eyes and ears. However, on other parts of the body, male and female H. lemuris ticks were similar in numbers.

The exact reasons why male ticks prefer the lemur nose are still unknown. However, the authors speculate that it may have something to do with finding mates. For H. lemuris males, a lemur is sort of like a singles bar. They hang out on one lemur and look for females, but if they’re having no luck they will drop off and find another one that hopefully does.

“Male ticks are on the host longer than females, as males look for females while on the host (they feed very little during that time),” explained Dr. Hans Klompen, one of the authors. “Females, on the other hand, get on a host, start the slow feeding period, than stop until they are mated, after which they proceed feeding to full engorgement, and drop off. As a consequence one usually finds far more male ticks on a host than females.”

For the H. lemuris males, the nose is a pretty safe place to be — like the men’s room at the single’s bar — because lemurs have a hard time reaching them there during grooming sessions.

Furthermore, the nose is a strategic location. Lemurs often sniff each other, so the nose is a good jump-off point for a male tick that wants to try his luck elsewhere.

“Males on a host without females may move to concentrate in the nose, and transfer to a new host during grooming or sniffing IF the new host has female ticks,” Dr. Klompen said.

Because their data set was small, the authors say that it’s only a hypothesis at this point, but it may explain why ticks prefer the nostrils of lemurs, chimpanzees and possibly other primates.

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The above story is based on materials provided by Entomological Society of America. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Clues to aging from long-lived lemurs

When Jonas the lemur died in January, just five months short of his thirtieth birthday, he was the oldest of his kind. A primate called a fat-tailed dwarf lemur, Jonas belonged to a long-lived clan. Dwarf lemurs live two to three times longer than similar-sized animals.

In a new study, Duke University researchers combed through more than 50 years of medical records on hundreds of dwarf lemurs and three other lemur species at the Duke Lemur Center for clues to their exceptional longevity.

The conventional wisdom in longevity research is that smaller species live shorter lives than larger ones. For example, humans and whales can live to be over 100; yet the average lab mouse doesn’t live beyond its third birthday.

The researchers found an exception to this pattern in a group of hamster-sized lemurs with a physiological quirk — they are able to put their bodies in standby mode.

How long the animals live and how fast they age correlates with the amount of time they spend in a state of suspended animation known as torpor, the data show. Hibernating lemurs live up to ten years longer than their non-hibernating cousins.

Dwarf lemurs like Jonas were the most extreme examples in their study, spending up to half the year in deep hibernation in the wild. Dwarf lemurs go into a semi-hibernation state for three months or less in captivity, “but even that seems to confer added longevity,” said study co-author Sarah Zehr, a researcher at the Duke Lemur Center.

Hibernating dwarf lemurs can reduce their heart rate from 200 to eight beats per minute. Breathing slows, and the animals’ internal thermostat shuts down. Instead of maintaining a steady body temperature, they warm up and cool down with the outside air.

“Everything gets slower,” Zehr said

For most primates such vital statistics would be life-threatening, but for lemurs, they’re a way to conserve energy during times of year when food and water are in short supply.

Hibernating lemurs not only live longer, they also stay healthier. While non-hibernators are able to reproduce for roughly six years after they reach maturity, hibernators continue to have kids for up to 14 years after maturity, the researchers found.

Although all species they examined suffered from cataracts and other age-related eye diseases as they got older, the hibernators managed to stave off symptoms until much later in life.

Some researchers have suggested that hibernators live longer and stay healthier simply because they avoid predators who may be looking for a snack. A lemur is much less likely to be eaten when it is curled up underground or snoozing in a tree.

“But the fact that we see the same pattern in captivity, where they’re protected from predators, suggests that other factors are at work,” Zehr said.

It may also be that torpor increases longevity by protecting cells against the buildup of oxidative damage that is a normal by-product of breathing and metabolism, said study co-author Marina Blanco.

“If your body is not ‘working full time’ metabolically-speaking, you will age more slowly and live longer,” Blanco said.

Because lemurs are more closely related to humans than mice are, the research may eventually help scientists identify “anti-aging” genes in humans.

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The above story is based on materials provided by Duke University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Hormone known for mother’s milk also fosters bond between parents

Research has discovered a role for prolactin, the hormone that stimulates milk production in nursing mothers, in the bond between parents.

The study relied on hormone analyses of urine from cotton-top tamarins, a small, endangered monkey native to Colombia. They live in monogamous family groups where both parents help care for the young, which is similar to humans.

The study found a link between prolactin levels and sexual activity and cuddling among paired adults. Although this was a first for prolactin, it has previously been found for oxytocin, a hormone that stimulates childbirth and is linked to a range of pleasurable emotions.

Prolactin levels were high among pairs that frequently had sex and cuddled and low among mothers that had finished nursing, even though their infants remained nearby.

“The fathers are so busy taking care of the kids, they probably had less time for cuddling and interacting with their partners,” says first author Charles Snowdon, an emeritus professor of psychology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “When you look at mothers who had lower prolactin, they had less sex with their partners.”

The results, just published in the online journal PLoS One, add to the growing number of parallels between oxytocin and prolactin.

“The behavioral aspects of prolactin have received less study than those of oxytocin,” Snowdon says.

By elaborating on the picture of hormonal activity in pair bonding, the study sheds light on the critical role hormones play in rewarding behavior related to monogamy.

The discovery about 25 years ago that oxytocin had an important role in pair bonding “was a conceptual breakthrough that oxytocin was not just about parenting, or the mother-infant bond, but about the pair bond between the adults,” Snowdon says. “Now we are finding something similar for prolactin, which is a hormone with different physical effects.”

The discovery in other studies of high prolactin levels among males who care for infants (in humans and other primates) made prolactin seem likely to be causing the parenting behavior.

But Snowdon says he and co-author Toni Ziegler of the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center believe prolactin may be a result of parenting instead. “Maybe it’s not serving as a mechanism to drive parental care, but it’s a consequence, a reward for parental care.”

The idea that prolactin and oxytocin may supply rewards was reinforced by a German study that found a burst of both hormones when men and women reached orgasm while making love. “This suggested to me that prolactin may, among other things, function as a reward mechanism for sex,” Snowdon says.

There is other evidence that prolactin has a role in reward circuits, Snowdon says. “Prolactin inhibits arousing chemicals in our nervous system, reducing our desire.”

The non-invasive study was performed on a tamarin colony that lived in the UW-Madison psychology department. In 2008, the colony was closed and the animals were transferred to zoos, sanctuaries and other colleges.

The recognition that two hormones play parallel roles in pair bonding for both sexes in a range of mammals accords with other trends in hormones and parental behavior, Snowdon says. “There is an amazing overlap between prolactin and oxytocin. It’s logical to assume that the same hormones and brain areas are involved in controlling a behavior that is as important to survival as parenting and pair bonding. We’re discovering that a good pair bond is a precursor for good paternal care in humans as well as monkeys.”

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison. The original article was written by David Tenenbaum. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Bitter chocolate: Illegal cocoa farms threaten Ivory coast primates

Researchers surveying for endangered primates in national parks and forest reserves of Ivory Coast found, to their surprise, that most of these protected areas had been turned into illegal cocoa farms, a new study reports.

The researchers surveyed 23 protected areas in the West African nation between 2010 and 2013 and found that about three-quarters of the land in them had been transformed into cocoa production.

The Ivory Coast is the largest producer of cocoa beans, providing more than one-third of the world’s supply. Cocoa is the main ingredient in chocolate.

“The world’s demand for chocolate has been very hard on the endangered primates of Ivory Coast,” said W. Scott McGraw, co-author of the study and professor of anthropology at The Ohio State University.

McGraw said the original goal of this research was “just to do a census of the monkeys in these protected areas.”

“But when we started walking through these areas we were just stunned by the scale of illegal cocoa production. It is now the major cause of deforestation in these parks,” he said.

“There are parks in Ivory Coast with no forests and no primates, but a sea of cocoa plants.”

The study appears in the March 2015 issue of the journal Tropical Conservation Science.

For the study, McGraw and his co-authors, all of whom work for Ivory Coast research institutions, spent a total of 208 days walking transects through nationally protected areas, most in the central and southern regions of the country. In each area, they noted the amount of forest that had been cut down or degraded and how much of this was replaced by cocoa or other types of farms. They also recorded the presence of 16 primate species, including monkeys and chimpanzees.

The results, McGraw said, were “depressing.”

Of the 23 protected areas, 16 of them had more than 65 percent of their forests degraded by farms, logging or other human disturbance. While a variety of agricultural products were grown illegally in the parks, cocoa constituted 93 percent of the total crops grown.

Overall, 20 of the areas had illegal cocoa plantations and approximately 74 percent of the total land in these areas was transformed into cocoa production.

Unauthorized villages have sprung up within these parks, with one housing nearly 30,000 people.

“I’ve been doing survey work in these parks for 20 years, and it wasn’t nearly this bad when I started. This is a relatively recent development,” McGraw said.

The impact on primates has been dramatic.

Overall, 13 of the protected areas (57 percent) had lost their entire primate populations, while another five had lost half of their species.

One species of monkey — Miss Waldron’s red colobus — was not seen during this survey and has not officially been sighted since 1978. It is probably extinct.

Two other monkeys — the Roloway monkey and the White-naped mangabey — were seen in only two reserves and are critically endangered, at least partially due to the habitat destruction caused by illegal cocoa farms.

“The Roloway monkey may be the next to go extinct,” McGraw said. “It is not able to live in the degraded habitats that are left in many of these protected areas.”

A variety of factors have led to these forest reserves being destroyed, he said. One has been the growing worldwide demand for chocolate. Ivory Coast produced a record 1.7 million metric tons of cocoa in the year that ended in September, according to the International Cocoa Organization in London.

Many of the older, legal cocoa plantations in the country have been blighted by disease or otherwise haven’t produced at the same levels as previously, which has led some growers to establish new farms in the reserves. Moreover, migrants from outside the country have moved into Ivory Coast and turned to farming to survive.

At the same time, Ivory Coast has been in political turmoil in recent years and the government hasn’t been focused on monitoring these forest reserves.

“There is little, if any, real active protection given to these parks and reserves,” McGraw said. “People have moved in and settled with essentially no resistance, cut down the forest, and planted cocoa. It is incredibly blatant.”

McGraw said that while the results are disappointing, there is still time to halt the disappearance of more primates and other wildlife. First, the land within protected areas needs to be actually protected.

Outside these lands, growers should move toward shade-cocoa farming, which keeps some of the large existing trees, with cocoa plants interspersed among them. This would at least preserve some suitable habitat for monkeys that live in the country, he said.

In addition, there should be efforts to connect the many fragmented forest reserves in the country. “We need to view the protected areas not as individual islands, but as a matrix,” he said.

One promising development is the establishment of community-based bio-monitoring programs that involve foot patrols conducted by local villagers. McGraw said his co-authors on this paper established a patrol in the Dassioko Forest Reserve and it has succeeded in reducing illegal activity in the area. Encounter rates with primates has risen in the area as a result.

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