IPads for Apes?

With the unfortunate predicament and sad necessity for captive animals comes our responsibility to provide them with the most natural way of life possible. Even progressive zoos are acknowledging that a concrete box is no place for an animal.

At the RSPCA Scientific Conference 2007 research presentation ‘How much space does an elephant need? The impact of confinement on animal welfare’ by John L. Barnett, Animal Welfare Science Centre, Primary Industries Research Victoria, Australia the following statement was made;

“Nevertheless, impacts of confinement can include behavioural changes/stereotypes (Lawrence and Terlouw, 1993), rebound behaviours (Cronin et al., 2003), behaviours indicative of frustration (Ekstrand and Keeling, 1994) and changes in time budgets (Kobelt et al., 2006) and acute and chronic

stress and associated physiological changes in immune function, health, metabolism,

nitrogen balance and growth and reproduction.”

We completely abhor the captivity of animals however often rescues cannot be rehabilitated and returned to the wild. That should not forfeit their lives however they deserve the best care we can give them. Enrichment is imperative. We have witnessed many ingenious gadgets and activities that help to give those captives a chance to use their bodies and brains. And so it seems technology has taken hold even in this. Read on…..

Providing enrichment for the orangs

Orangutans across the world may soon join the ranks of millions of humans as proud owners of new iPads. As strange as that may sound, a conservation group is testing its "Apps for Apes" program, allowing orangutans to communicate with each other remotely via the iPad's video chat technology.

Orangutan Outreach founder Richard Zimmerman says has iPads have already been donated to zoos in Milwaukee, Atlanta and Florida. A board member of the Houston Zoo also recently donated an iPad. More of the tablets will soon be sent to the Memphis Zoo, the Center for Great Apes in Florida and to the Toronto Zoo. Orangutans are considered to be amongst the most intelligent of primates, making them a good case study for the interactive technology.

"It's not a gimmick," Zimmerman told Yahoo News in a phone interview Tuesday. "If they don't want to do it, they won't. There are actual measurable benefits."

Zimmerman said that orangutans in zoos and other primate facilities usually receive all the food and love they need. However, during winter months they are forced to spend long periods of time indoors, which is counter to their natural habitat. And living indoors for extended periods of time can result in boredom and stunt social growth among other primates.

"They need stimulation, especially indoors," Zimmerman tells Yahoo News. "The zoo keepers can see the benefit from this sort of enrichment. We're doing this as enrichment as opposed to research. But researchers are getting involved, that's just not our jurisdiction."

Scientists and layman alike have long speculated on ways to better indoctrinate primates and other animals with human technology. Dolphins have already demonstrated an ability to interact with iPad technology with researchers using it as a language interaction device between dolphins and humans. There are even several iPad games made specifically for cats.

But even more interesting possibilities present themselves once a number of zoos have their orangutans acclimated to using the iPads. Zimmerman said he hopes they will be able to use Skype or the iPad's FaceTime feature to communicate remotely with orangutans at other zoos during "play dates." Zimmerman said he recently visited Jahe, an orangutan at the Memphis Zoo who used to live at the Toronto Zoo. When Zimmerman showed Jahe a photo on his iPhone of some of her relatives still living in Toronto, she appeared to recognize them.

"Given an opportunity to demonstrate that intelligence, it's pretty amazing," Zimmerman tells Yahoo News.

The biggest obstacle for now is coming up with the funding to purchase more iPads. Orangutan Outreach refuses to use its funds on the tablets, saying its priorities must be toward conservation and helping to rescue orangutans that are victims of violence in the wild.

Zimmerman said so far he has been unable to reach Apple directly about any possible donations for the project. "I could get them to the zoos tomorrow," Zimmerman said, if Apple were to make such a donation. "Our Plan B has been to hopefully get their attention through this effort."

When the tire swing or the rope hammock no longer entice, what’s a bored orangutan to do? Reach for the iPad, because there’s an app for that ape.

The Toronto Zoo is at “the top of the list’’ to get a donated iPad from Orangutan Outreach, a conservation group spearheading an Apps for Apes program.

Founder and director Richard Zimmerman said he has been watching the Milwaukee Zoo’s iPad program involving its three orangutans, which started last year, and is extending Apps for Apes to other zoos.

“It’s incredibly exciting,’’ he said.

In Milwaukee, a keeper holds an iPad through a mesh screen while the primates have fun manipulating a painting app with their fingers.

Zimmerman, whose charitable group raises funds for orphaned and rescued orangutans in their native Malaysia and Indonesia, and promotes awareness of orangutan conservation issues, said the painting program stimulates the primates, who get bored in captivity.

“Orangutans like to paint and they’re capable of using this digital device,” he said, adding “there’s no paint to eat.’’

Zimmerman has been in touch with the Toronto Zoo about sending an iPad once more devices are donated. “We wish it could go faster.’’

(Funds donated to Orangutan Outreach only go to its overseas programs.)

A Toronto Zoo spokeswoman said it’s trying to get donated iPads for the orangutan enrichment initiative. Staff have been working with York University animal behaviour expert Suzanne MacDonald to line up suitable primate-friendly apps.

“They have performed a couple of trials with iPhones, and there is response from the orangutans,’’ said the zoo’s Katie Gray.

Zimmerman is about to send an iPad to the Centre for Great Apes in Florida, and has already sent them to Atlanta. The Memphis Zoo is on his list but he doesn’t have one yet.

Once a number of zoos have iPads, Zimmerman hopes orangutans can get to “know each other’’ via a video chat app. He has no doubt orangutans can recognize other orangutans when they see their images.

At the Memphis Zoo recently, he visited an orangutan named Jahe, who used to live at the Toronto Zoo with her mother, Puppe, and brother, Budi.

Zimmerman showed Jahe, who’s about 12 years old, a photo of Puppe and Bude on his iPhone.

Jahe “was very close to her mother and her brother, they had a very strong relationship. She recognized them,’’ said Zimmerman. “Unscientifically speaking, they show recognition the same as we do — their eyes light up. She really demonstrated recognition.’’

The Orangutan Outreach is massive in the orangutan conservation arena.

Orangutan Outreach's mission is to protect orangutans in their native habitat while providing care for orphaned and displaced orangutans until they can be returned to their natural environment. We seek to raise and promote public awareness of orangutan conservation issues by collaborating with partner organizations around the world.

Richard Zimmerman is the Founding Director of Orangutan Outreach, a New York-based non-profit organisation whose mission is to save the critically endangered orangutans and protect their rainforest home.

The organization quickly began to thrive thanks to an affiliation with the Animal Planet series Orangutan Island. With little more than his Mac, his iPhone and his will to save orangutans by working with like-minded groups and individuals around the world, Richard has raised over a million dollars for orangutan conservation and made a real difference in the lives of orangutans. He has expanded Orangutan Outreach to work with an increasing number of partners and is now working with the UK-base International Animal Rescue (IAR) to build a new state-of-the-art orangutan rescue and rehabilitation center in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.

WHAT YOU CAN DO?

If you'd like to make a direct donation to Orangutan Outreach, you can do so here. Toronto Zoo orangutans may get iPad.

Information sourced for this blog from:

Orangutan Outreach

Yahoo News

Toronto’ Star.com

Breeding program saving wild cats

At O2E we generally don't support breeding programs. It's such a controversial topic. We have seen projects that breed for bushmeat or commercial trade. We have also seenprograms that breed with all good intention only to find they have no resources or habitat to release into. Subsequently these animals live in captivity their entire lives, requiring constant care and attention. Some may say, 'well at least they are not extinct'. Is that good enough? To my mind, it's kind of like a living museum....or dare I say...a zoo, albeit without the kids and ice cream.

This article makes me think a little harder about the subject.

In April 2011, three young cats from the world’s most endangered species have been released into the wild in Spain from a captive breeding program at the La Olivilla breeding centre in Juan .

The Iberian lynx, once widespread across Spain and Portugal, were down to just 150 by 2005 — there were 4,000 in 1960. Scientists were forced to take drastic action and captured many from the wild population and put them in a captive breeding program.

Miguel Simon, director of the Lynx LIFE project, said:

“The situation was really dramatic: there were only two populations left in the wild. In order to preserve this species, we had to create a captive population in case the wild population became extinct.”

The Lynx LIFE team admits that radical intervention like this is a last resort. But if it works, these cats could be the first of many to roam free once again.

If the lynx went extinct it would be the first cat extinction (that we know of) since that of the saber-toothed cat at the end of the ice age.

"The cat’s decline was down to habitat loss, poisoning, road casualties, feral dogs and poaching. Its habitat loss is due mainly to infrastructure improvement, urban and resort development and tree monocultivation, which serves to break the lynx’s distribution area. It has also suffered the loss of its main food source: rabbits, which were wiped out by disease.

That breeding program has proved successful and there are now around 100 cats bred at the centre.

Concurrently, work to protect the habitat in Jaen and the Donana National Park in Andalucia,over the past decade has commenced and the wild population is now believed to be up to 300.

Dr Simon said: "The Iberian lynx is a key species in the Mediterranean ecosystem. It is a top predator, and if we preserve this species, we are preserving the whole ecosystem."

"It is our heritage, and we have to preserve it for future generations."

The Spanish Environment Ministry, Fundación CBD Hábitat and Ecologistas en Acción, supports the work of Lynx LIFE and together they have implemented a range of important projects including lynx supplementary feeding, habitat improvement, rabbit repopulations and awareness campaigns with the local human population.

The three lynx were released in early April into a protected area in Sierra Morena, a hilly, forested region, packed with shade for the cats to sleep in when the sun becomes unbearably hot — and it has plenty of rabbits.

Radio collars will help researchers monitor the released lynx

The cats received a careful pre-release check-up to ensure they are in good health then they were fitted with radio collars, allowing the conservationists to track their every move.

As the cats were released, they were a little confused at first, unsure of their new surroundings.
But after tentatively taking a few steps, they bound into the wild, ready to explore their new home.

Dr Lopez said: "Just a few years ago, everything seemed so difficult, and now we are approaching the successful conservation of the species."

A total of 15 releases have taken place this year, and if new wild populations begin to establish, more and more of the captive cats will be introduced to the wild.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
When you are looking to support an animal program, do your research. Do they have a breeding program? What happens to the captive bred population?


Information by Paul Canning and BBC News

Paul Canning is a long-standing LGBT and human rights activist and the Editor of LGBT Asylum News. He contributes to a number of other publications, including Care 2 Make A Difference.

Precious ecosystem

This is a short video about the long term documentary Saving Leuser. Maximum support is needed, not just for Tripa but to save the Leuser ecosystem, the only place in the world that hosts five endangered species as tigers, rhinos, orangutans, elephants and bears.




WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Carlos welcomes comments or ideas. Contact : carlosquiles@carlosquilesfoto.com or LIKE on facebook by the same mail.
Oceans2Earth with best wishes welcomes your presence.

What you should know about the egg trade

It is important that consumers are aware that there are ethical and welfare issues common to all egg production systems — including free-range and organic. All egg systems are faced with a universal 'problem' when it comes to the hatching of chicks raised for egg laying.

Since only female chickens lay eggs, male chicks who have no commercial value to the egg industry are routinely gassed or 'macerated'  (ground up alive). As a result, every year some 12 million male chicks are killed in the first day of their lives as waste products of the Australian egg industry.

Another common concern is the slaughter of layer hens years short of their natural life span. Hens will naturally live for around 10 years, but most layer hens in Australia are sent to slaughter as soon as they exceed their productive 'use by date'.

In all egg production systems, from cage to free range, hens are considered 'spent' from just 18 months old. Occasionally however, if it's deemed commercially viable, hens in free-range systems will be kept on for another season which would extend their life for around 12 months — still well short of what nature intended.

Eggs whites are a great source of protein and I have to admit, my Sunday morning egg white pancake with cinnamon apples is a highlight of the weekend however after learning a bit more from AnimalsAustralia on the egg trade....I'll be checking out egg alternatives. How about you?

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Illegal animal trade on the rise in Indonesia

The slow loris -
popular illegal pet thanks to Paris Hilton

Regular monitoring of trade in protected species at bird markets on Java and Bali has shown a sharp rise in prohibited animals in February 2012. The surveys, conducted by Born Free partner ProFauna Indonesia, highlight the illegal trade that occurs routinely in these busy, but mostly legal, marketplaces. Studies throughout 2011 revealed an average of 42 individual animals from protected species being traded each month. Figures from this February, however, showed a total of 62 individual animals from 15 different species. By far the most common were slow loris, followed by green turtle, with others ranging from the black-winged starling to the otter civet. Trade in these animals contravenes the 1990 law on Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems, and can be punished with up to 5 years in jail and a fine of up to 100,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah (nearly £7,000). 

Speaking of slow loris...big pat on the back for http://www.slowlorispet.com/ which draws the unsuspecting potential loris buyer in and convinces them how much a slow loris is sooooo not the pet for you. Worth a read...and a giggly.

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