Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012) • Hacker News Board

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#121

Post by fb03 » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 11:46 AM UTC

michaelscott wrote: post #117

disordinary wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And all alpine chalets and cabins in Kea habitated areas have warning signs about leaving windows open with pictures of the share devastation they cause when they get inside. Where I live we have Kaka which are related to Kea. All they do is tear trees to shreds.

This is a problem with baboons in chalet and cabin areas in the southern African bush as well. They're able to get into a window (if not locked) and devastate a cabin in their search for food, they're able to open chip and food packets, unscrew jar lids etc. In their case I think the opposable thumbs are what really come in handy.

> I think the opposable thumbs are what really come in handy.

they literally come in handy :-)

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#122

Post by boblebricoleur » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 11:53 AM UTC

magissima wrote: post #29

swebs wrote: post #26

>Bush-meat hunters set thousands of rope-and-branch snares in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, where the mountain gorillas live. The traps are intended for antelope and other species but sometimes capture the apes. >The hunters, Vecellio said, seem to have no interest in the gorillas. Even small apes, which would be relatively easy to carry away for sale, are left to die. Pretty misleading for the title to blame poa…

Considering it's a national park, hunting antelope is probably also considered poaching.

Yes. That's why setting trap in some countries is a strictly regulated activity and lethal or harmful traps are almost always forbidden. You can't always catch what you intended to, so you have to give a way out to the guy you caught by mistake. Snares without a stop are harmful by design.

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#123

Post by philwelch » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 11:53 AM UTC

Double_a_92 wrote: post #116

philwelch wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parrots are fucking smart, man. You have to be smart to do weird useless shit to amuse yourself.

Man, have I got a video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uXiAe7Oc-I (It's a crow sledding)

Oh god. Crows and octopodes are my shortlist of who will succeed humanity as the sapient Terran species. Crows probably first; octopodes are smarter, but crows have culture and that’s more important than intelligence because it provides another axis of Darwinian evolution.

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#124

Post by homonculus1 » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 12:28 PM UTC

nkrisc wrote: post #75

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #12

> "No we can't teach them," she said. "We try as much as we can to not interfere with the gorillas. We don't want to affect their natural behavior." Tsk. Like the Prime Directive but in the real world. Well, isn't it the natural behaviour of gorillas to learn? If they can learn by observing humans, without the humans specifically intending it, then what's so different, or unethical, if it's done with intent? I think…

It's always strange to me when people seem to think humans and the things we do and make aren't "natural." We evolved naturally on the this planet like all other life here did, what we do is natural.

"Natural" by definition characterizes things that aren't a result of human activity. All you've realized is that it's a synthetic distinction and not a fundamental one, but if you turn around and include humans then its literally meaningless and you just lose a useful concept.

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#125

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:03 PM UTC

xu_ituairo wrote: post #78

disordinary wrote: post #73

In Aotearoa-New Zealand we set traps for introduced species like stoats, rats, possums, etc. that kill our endangered wildlife that evolved without natural predators. The Kea which are very smart mountain parrots will go and disarm the traps in order to eat the bait. They're smart enough to have figured out how to do this, and are one of just a handful of animals that habitually use tools, but are unfortunately too s…

How does their handiwork make them targets?

[deleted]

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#126

Post by martin_a » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:11 PM UTC

disordinary wrote: post #118

ironic_ali wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, what you're saying is the Keas that stripped the rubber round my windscreen up at Mt Hutt, thought my car was a big metal trap with tasty goodies inside?

I think they just like to watch our reactions.

Some are even filming this for KeaTube. "You won't believe how this Human reacts to broken car windows" - 12 million views.

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#127

Post by patagonia » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:14 PM UTC

danaliv wrote: post #81

disordinary wrote: post #73

In Aotearoa-New Zealand we set traps for introduced species like stoats, rats, possums, etc. that kill our endangered wildlife that evolved without natural predators. The Kea which are very smart mountain parrots will go and disarm the traps in order to eat the bait. They're smart enough to have figured out how to do this, and are one of just a handful of animals that habitually use tools, but are unfortunately too s…

> unfortunately too smart for their own good because their handiwork means [certain doom] Reminds me of a certain mammalian species.

> introduced species like stoats, rats, possums, etc. that kill our endangered wildlife

Yep. Like. Humans?

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#128

Post by patagonia » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 1:20 PM UTC

Or how about the video of the orangutan fighting the bulldozer destroying its home? I used to think people just didn’t realize that animals have internal emotional, social, intellectual lives. But I’m now convinced we know and choose to look away. Tragically.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/8896313/david-attenbor...

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#129

Post by magduf » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #30

magduf wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem here is that poachers could have guns, so even though gorillas are extremely strong, and a gorilla with a knife is a scary prospect close-up, a poacher with a gun wouldn't have much problem killing the gorilla. The solution is simple: give guns to gorillas and teach them to shoot them. Now we'll have gorilla warfare...

I feel like apes with guns doesn't lead anywhere good. I saw a documentary about that somewhere.

I must have missed that one. I saw a documentary where a really old ape was telling the young ones about how dangerous and murderous humans were, and how they had invented guns to help with their murderous intentions.

Re: Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers’ Traps (2012)

#130

Post by gerbilly » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 2:36 PM UTC

patagonia wrote: post #128

Or how about the video of the orangutan fighting the bulldozer destroying its home? I used to think people just didn’t realize that animals have internal emotional, social, intellectual lives. But I’m now convinced we know and choose to look away. Tragically. https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/8896313/david-attenbor...

"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds"

You know what bothers me? movies like the lord of the rings trilogy that make us yearn for an imaginary a more magical time.

We are living in the end days of that magical time right now. We don't need fantasies about walking/talking trees when there are 'magical' animals we share the planet with right now that we haven't bothered to get to know.

Some have already been wiped out, and the others, well we are working on it...