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Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#101

Post by Voultapher »

gonzo41 wrote: post #85
eellpp wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading this, the choice of word "exhibit" hurts

Animal prison.

There is also the grim reality that most pets would run away and not come back if you were to open the "prison doors". Think of birds, reptiles, dogs etc.

Our interaction with other life on this planet is very human centric, some call this human supremacism. A line is drawn between us and other animals, and the justification is quite arbitrary in my opinion. A line that is used to justify a vast number of atrocities and systemic exploitation. I don't believe there is no meaningful difference between a human and a cricket. But between a human and a dog or pig? That's close enough that I'm willing to extrapolate.

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#102

Post by ies7 »

codethief wrote: post #2

I know I'm humanizing Rakus here but I'd like to think that, when he kisses the tree towards the end of the video, he does so out of gratitude for helping him. :-)

> I know I'm humanizing Rakus here

Well in Indonesia, orang (h)utan means Forest people

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#103

Post by mrkstu »

Voultapher wrote: post #101
gonzo41 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Animal prison.

There is also the grim reality that most pets would run away and not come back if you were to open the "prison doors". Think of birds, reptiles, dogs etc. Our interaction with other life on this planet is very human centric, some call this human supremacism. A line is drawn between us and other animals, and the justification is quite arbitrary in my opinion. A line that is used to justify a vast number of atrocities…

My dogs that have escaped the yard go walkabout for a bit and then make their way home. My daughter's covid puppy has zero desire to be away from his human family- he's constantly looking for a human family member to hang out with and won't scamper away given the chance.

Now a bird/snake generally will be gone given the chance- but they truly are wild animals, while dogs are bred to be co-dependent with humans.

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#104

Post by scruple »

hnick wrote: post #53
darth_avocado wrote: post #28

Obviously orangutans are much smarter as a species, they are know to pass down knowledge/behaviors, including tool usage, down generations. But there could be more to this behavior. A dog instinctively knows to eat grass when they have stomach issues and Alaskan Bears eat certain plants to expel parasites after hibernation. How do they know? Zoopharmacognosy is a fascinating subject that needs more research. https://…

I'd considered the dog eating grass thing as more of a now-disputed myth, but maybe someone has evidence. Either way my own dog loves munching on the taller/thicker grass every time we walk, like he's a sheep. His favourite foods also include broccoli and bok choy so that could be why. I think a lot of people downplay the role plants play in a dog's diet (not required but helpful especially with processed diets that…

I have a dog that literally only eats grass when he needs to retch something up. He'll go to the back door and whine and gag, whine and gag. If we're upstairs, he'll come fetch me. I don't stop him, either. I've learned that lesson. He's a mutt breed, we think half Yorkshire Terrier and half Miniature Schnauzer, for whatever that's worth. Our full-breed Rat Terrier did no such thing in 17 years of life but the mutt has been doing it since we got him nearly 15 years ago!

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#105

Post by Voultapher »

mrkstu wrote: post #103
Voultapher wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also the grim reality that most pets would run away and not come back if you were to open the "prison doors". Think of birds, reptiles, dogs etc. Our interaction with other life on this planet is very human centric, some call this human supremacism. A line is drawn between us and other animals, and the justification is quite arbitrary in my opinion. A line that is used to justify a vast number of atrocities…

My dogs that have escaped the yard go walkabout for a bit and then make their way home. My daughter's covid puppy has zero desire to be away from his human family- he's constantly looking for a human family member to hang out with and won't scamper away given the chance. Now a bird/snake generally will be gone given the chance- but they truly are wild animals, while dogs are bred to be co-dependent with humans.

Indeed dogs have been genetically modified over millennia to the point many wouldn't even be able to survive in the wild, whether you think that justifies our actions is up to you.

In addition the chances they want to escape are smaller than for birds. I looked it up and found this source https://www.petlink.net/blog/chance-dogs-coming-back-run-awa... that says "The unfortunate reality is that 15% of dogs across the United States go missing.". For context that's not 15% of dogs want to leave and do so. What's the percentage of dogs that had the chance to leave? Let's say 50%, which would imply that given the chance 1 in 3 dogs left. Albeit not all of the because they disliked their home/prison.

Looking at the language used in that article exposes some mental gymnastics. They simultaneously state that dogs could find their way back if they wanted and compare it to loosing a child! No, the dog is not a child, and if the reasons you provide why they "go missing" are "Fear from loud noises, Easy escape routes, Boredom and Prey drive" I find it hard to ignore that these are adult conscious beings that may not want to live with us, and only do so when given no alternative.

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#106

Post by trogdor »

bredren wrote: post #96
gonzo41 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Animal prison.

Zoos are are a terrible entertainment business. All the primates and megafauna especially, it is a tragedy. I'm certain they'll be looked back on with shame. Even as zoos market videos of animals "eating birthday cake" on social media. See also zoos' dark history entwined with ethnological expositions https://archive.is/xsuEU

I’m not sure that’s a fair statement to make categorically.

Many zoos provide homes, food, and veterinary care for animals that would not be able to survive in the wild. For example, the mountain lion at Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is blind, and many of their other animals had been kept illegally by their previous owners, were confiscated by Arizona Game & Fish, and needed a place to live so they wouldn’t die.

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#107

Post by Log_out_ »

grecy wrote: post #94
balls187 wrote: post #73

Many years ago I stopped by a zoo in France, with my 7mo son. I was pushing him in the stroller while he was napping, and at the orangutan exhibit, one came up to the window and gestured towards the stroller. I turned the stroller to face the window, and removed the hood. The orangutan blew my son a kiss, waved then went back to the otherside of its enclosure. Made me rethink what I knew about animal intelligence.

I was lucky enough to spend a bunch of time with Chimpanzees and Gorillas in Africa (mostly West Africa). I got to carry them, play with them and just chill with them in the jungle [1]. Staring into their eyes it is impossible to deny we are them and they are us. Their facial expressions, emotions, reactions, playfulness and also anger, jealousy and all the rest are incredible to be a part of. Often I was on the othe…

Future generations will look at us as monsters propping up highly western economy dependent sanctuaries in economic fragile regions just before the big crash, sentencing sentients to die out of romanticism and a unrealistic view of us in reality.

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#108

Post by xvector »

bredren wrote: post #96
gonzo41 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Animal prison.

Zoos are are a terrible entertainment business. All the primates and megafauna especially, it is a tragedy. I'm certain they'll be looked back on with shame. Even as zoos market videos of animals "eating birthday cake" on social media. See also zoos' dark history entwined with ethnological expositions https://archive.is/xsuEU

Factory farms will be looked back on with 10,000x more shame and horror than zoos. Zoos barely scratch the surface of the immense and unnecessary cruelty we inflict on animals. We torture 70 billion land animals to death every year and the poor things will never even understand why - they're just babies, mentally speaking.

It's objectively the greatest evil humans have ever committed, and for our own pleasure at that. We inflict pure hellish suffering because "tAsTe bUdS gO BRRR!"

It's hard to even comprehend something more comically, absurdly evil, both in terms of motive and sheer scale of suffering.

At least zoos do trigger an empathy response and get people to care about animals more.

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#109

Post by polishdude20 »

JohnMakin wrote: post #43
elboru wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trial and error?

Bingo. We only know which mushrooms that are tasty or give us a fun time because a lot of people died finding out.

Not only that. A lot of mushrooms can be eaten in small doses but will cause things like stomach upset well before death. I'd bet we as a species would quickly test mushrooms this way without dieing.

Re: Wild orangutan seen healing his wound with a plant

#110

Post by shmageggy »

rramadass wrote: post #100
RenThraysk wrote: post #25

It's interesting for sure, but the mystery is how he gained that knowledge. Is he just repeating what he's seen humans do or his ancestors?

> Is he just repeating what he's seen humans do This is most probably the main reason. However there is some debate on whether these learned behaviours can be passed across generations. Here is David Attenborough showing Orangutans washing clothes/using soap/tools/etc. mimicking what they have seen Humans in their environment do - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFACrIx5SZ0

This is an animal living in the wild who did not have contact with humans. The article mentions that he may have learned it from other orangutans, but says nothing about humans.
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