Favorite Mammals Episode X: Planet of the apes

Episode X: Food for Thought is the last segment in the BBC's Life of Mammals (LoM) series, and in it the producers go ape. The focus is on the largest of the primates, the great apes, and their characteristic abilities to mimic behavior and to invent tools. Such talents make it easier to pass down knowledge through the generations and create "cultures."

Here are the main players in this final chapter:

Orangutans - In capitivity these large, tree-dwelling apes can learn to use our carpentry tools and LoM shows them playing with saws and hammers. In the wild they have a schematic knowlege of how to navigate the forest and can track the dates that various fruits ripen. They're usually loners in the wild, but that's the result of food scarcity rather than a lack of sociability (there are humans who can certainly relate). In Sumatra, for example, where the food is more plentiful, Orangutans live in groups and have shared intelligence -- fashioning tools to get at harder to reach food.

Chimpanzees - Said to be human's closest living relatives, LoM gives us a glimpse into the life of a Chimp colony in Uganda that is one of the largest known. The group interactions range from tranquil social grooming to the more violent repercussions of male rivalry. The males in the colony form organized hunts where bonds are created and alliances firmed up. The social relationships and politics within the community are complex and still not well understood, but they seem to mirror our own with a more primative brutality.

Humans - The series asks the question, What made our ancestors rise on two feet, stand upright, and walk? One theory postulates that it was a changing climate where trees became scarcer and primates had to walk or wade longer distances between them. There's also the possibility that early humans stood upright in order to pursue four-legged prey across these newly formed grasslands. In an amazing sequence, LoM follows members of an African tribe from the Kalahari desert who practice the ancient and mostly forgotten art of the "persistence hunt." Using their intelligence as a weapon, they track and pursue a Kudu for miles until the animal collapses from exhaustion. It's a chase that early humans embarked on knowing that on two-legs they could endure longer than their prey.

As the series draws to a close, it summarizes human development in order to reach conclusions about our future. The early human hunters eventually learned to domesticate animals and crops. They traded in their migratory life to settle down and create farms and cities. In these new societies, not everyone had to be involved in food production and some could devote themselves to the arts and sciences that reshaped the world. Mastery of the food supply allowed humans to thrive and spread to all corners of the earth. But as the human population has increased to over 6 billion, its in danger of over-reaching the limits of the earth's resources.

The series suggests that the only way to fix this situation is to control our population growth. Of course Nature has its own ways of checking populations, and that's a scenario that we should try to avoid. If we are to do so, we'll need to use our "big brains" to develop the sustainable technologies that can help us either more efficiently meet the needs of our growing population or expand to previously inhospitable climes -- such as the oceans or outer space.

Just like our great-ape relatives, we'll need to rely on our proven abilities to learn and innovate in order to succeed. We may even find ourselves evolving new abilities in order to adapt to the challenges ahead.

Favorite Mammals Episode IX: Big groups, big brains

Episode 9: The Social Climbers is the penultimate in the BCC's Life of Mammals series. It focuses on the brain power of monkeys and larger primates who have developed intellects that solve the problems of their environments by passing on "cultural" traditions, using tools, and navigating the difficulties of group dynamics.

The stars of the episode include:

Capuchins - These proto-typical monkeys are shown rummaging through the forest with characteristic curiousity. Their brains capture, process and communicate to others any valuable lessons learned on their various ventures. We see them put to use two particular generational discoveries: how to open closely closed-up clams and the benefits of anti-septic leaves that they rub on their bodies to heal and protect against bug bites.

Toque Macaques - From Sri Lanka, these monkeys have a complex society that's been carefully studied. It's a rigid class system that bestows great priveleges on the highly ranked, and to navigate through the political and sexual dynamics of the society requires a lot of strategizing. They're certainly not stupid, as Senator George Allen's "macaca" insult at a debate last year might have implied, but they are also not very democratic.

Baboons - These primates inhabit the grasslands that developed as the rain forest receded 10 million years ago. Residing in such open spaces makes them more vulnerable to predators, and to compensate for that they live in large groups. The group dynamics here reward males who develop friendships through social grooming and who take care of the group's females and young -- certainly a more admirable meritocracy than the macaques.

Gelada - These primates live on the highlands of Ethiopia and form the largest herds. They are also the only grazing primates -- scooting on their rear ends to pick grass with their fingers. Males conduct show battles (including the very attractive lip flip) to establish social dominance, and the winners lord it over "harems" of females. Since their hands are preoccupied with grass-picking, rather than grooming to form social bonds the Gelada "talk" to each other with vocal chatter that might give clues to how our own ancestors' first developed language.

One of the most interesting details noted in the show is that scientists have discovered a direct correlation between primate brain size and group size. Social complexity requires a more developed intellect, and the environmental conditions that drove primates out of the trees and into the plains may have been the key evolutionary moment that led to our own development of language and eventually consciousness.

Favorite Mammals Episode VIII: Swinging through the trees

I'm up to Episode 8 of the BBC documentary series Life of Mammals (LoM) and it's making its inevitable march toward describing those animals dearest to our hearts: humans. The progression means first going up into the trees with the primates, before descending back down to the terra firma of grasslands as our ancestors once did, at least according to the history that we happy US few who believe in evolution accept (more on that later).

"Life in the Trees" focuses on the myriad of monkeys and other mammals who have made a living feeding on the bounty of the forest canopy. What drove mammals of various kinds up into the trees? There is safety from predators in the branches, but there's also an extraodinary variety of food and it is that search for sustenance that models behavior and creates the impetus for physical adaptation.

The episode features non-primates of various kinds that have evolved traits to help them clamber up and down trees, or better yet jump and fly between them. From the rubbery pads of a Hyrax balancing on twigs in Kenya, to the strong forearms and sharp claws of a Sun Bear clasping trunks, getting up in the air to snack on fruits and leaves was the easier task. There are the more drastic modification of a skin membrane that helps a Flying Squirrel glide and a Fruit Bat fly between branches, and this overcomes the need to retreat back down so that life can be led exclusively above ground.

As for the primates, the show gives us excellent examples of tree huggers who use grasping thumbed hands and big-toed feet to move around the forests with amazing ease. Infra-red shots are used to capture the movements of two nocturnal animals: the Slender Loris of India and its African relative the Bush Baby. The Loris uses slow movements to sneak up on its prey in silence, and has the peculiar trait of urinating on its hands as it moves along. The Bush Baby uses the speed of incredible leaps to catch its targets unaware. Both have large forward pointing eyes to help judge distances.

The island of Madagascar, as some might know from the animated kids movie of the same name, is the home to an array of Lemurs. LoM focuses on the Sifaka and the way it moves about from tree to tree, pushing off from one trunk with its powerful back legs and then twisting its body in mid-air to get in position to land. More amusing is the way the Sifaka runs when it needs to travel on the ground. Unable to get the same push off as from a tree, it takes small hops with its hands in the air.

Finally LoM shows us Gibbons, which are the fastest flightless animal in the canopy. These small apes of Asia quickly swing from branch to branch aided by long arms and a ball joint in their wrists. Their effortless maneuvering reminded me of Spiderman's high-speed web-swinging in the movies. They might make good stunt doubles, or models for CGI.

I'll post about Episode 9 tomorrow, and there is a primacy of monkey business to come.

Favorite Mammals Episode VII: Adapting to the water

Episode 7 of the BBC's Life of Mammals series is titled "Return to the Water" and it is one of the most interesting segments to me because of the extreme adaptations that these animals have made in order to carve out a niche in watery environments.

The degree to which they've adapted varies, as does their lifestyles. The Desman, an insect eater that is mostly closely related to a shrew, has a "snorkel" similar to an elephant's trunk and webbed feet. It swims along river beds snatching up prey amidst the gravel and pebbles but spends equal amounts of time in and out of the water.

The Sea Otter spends all of its time in the water -- eating, sleeping and breeding there. Mostly closely related to the weasel, it has adapted to life in the water by developing thick insulating fur and feet that act as paddles. To stay in place and protect its territory while it sleeps, it wraps itself in kelp. And, in one of my favorite scenes from the series, we see how they've figured out an ingenious way to open their favorite food: oysters. They pick up a rock from the bottom of the sea, rest it on their stomach, and bang the oyster against it -- all the while floating casually on their backs.

Sea Lions and Seals have limbs that have evolved into flippers, bodies that are more streamlined for swimming, and layers of blubber for insulation. They are descended from an animal somewhere between a weasel and a bear, and breed and birth on the land/ice but spend the rest of their time at sea.

Manatees have lost even more of the typical mammal traits and spend all of their time under water in creek beds. They are thought to have a common ancestor with the elephant, and are large, slow moving grazers with limbs that are completely adapted to swimming.

The most incredibly evolved sea mammals are of course the great whales. It's hard to imagine, but scientists believe that they were originally a deer-like, land-based animal that returned to the sea. Over millions of years whales evolved the equipment they needed to lead a life in the water. There are vestigal leg bones still present in the Blue Whale, buried deep in the muscle, but most other traces of their past have disappeared. They are the largest animal ever to have existed on the earth, and that size is directly attributable to a life at sea, as no bones could have supported such bulk on land.

It makes you wonder what humans might evolve into if we were forced to live at sea ... maybe the concept of a mermaid isn't so farfetched.

Favorite Mammal Episode VI: The Raccoon Dog

Episode Six of BBC's Life of Mammals is entitled The Opportunists and it features omnivores -- those animals who have diversified their diets so that they can more easily adapt to changes in their environments (and avoid the fate of specialized eaters like the Giant Panda when loss of habitat occurs).

My favorite animal among this grouping is the Raccoon Dog found in East Asia -- what can I say, I'm fond of dogs. It is the only member of the dog family that hibernates during the winter. Also interesting is that it's the female of the species who hunts up food for the pups while the father takes care of them back at their den. The video includes some nice footage of the mother returning to her young with various tidbits (meat, eggs, etc.) for them to fight over while she goes back out for more.

Other highlights of the episode include:

• The Babirusa, a usually solitary wild pig from the Sulawesi forest, socializing on a river bank.
• A Skunk sightlessly feeding on baby bats that had fallen from a cave ceiling, and then finding a chance for love in the unexpected place.
• Grisly Bears diving into streams to feed on Salmon as they spawn in Alaska.
• A Raccoon using its sensitive hands to feel the bottom of a creek bed in search of food (including delicately evading the pincers of a crayfish while grabbing it).
• A rat carrying its young one-by-one to a more elevated hole as a sewer fills up with water.

Favorite Mammal Episode V: The Bush Dog

Episode Five of the BBC's Life of Mammals features The Meateaters -- the various cats and dogs who hunt for their sustenance.

My favorite among these predators, and one that's probably the most rare, is the South American Bush Dog. It is the only member of the dog family that has webbed feet. The St. Louis Zoo, which I've visited, has bush dogs, and their web site's South America page (from which I got the photo here) includes a short video of one swimming. You can also get much more info about the bush dog from Wikipedia's article, which has some good external links.

Other highlights from the episode:

• A Marten jumping from branch to branch chasing birds.
• A Fennec Fox deftly trying to subdue a venomous snake
• A Cheetah using its tremendous speed and agility to chase down a Gazelle

Favorite Mammals Episode IV: Mole Rats, Beavers, and Capybara

Continuing my cataloging of cool animals from the BBC's Life of Mammal series, I've got three interesting ones to highlight this post. The fourth episode of the series is titled The Chisellers, and it deals with some very adaptable rodents. Here are my favorites, which inhabit very different environments and have correspondingly very different behaviors.

The Naked Mole Rat

These little animals from East Africa are the only hairless rodent, and they have some other very unique traits:

• Like social insects, there is a queen who breeds and worker rats who are sterile and handle the digging of tunnels and procuring of food.
• Their lips seal behind their protruding teeth to prevent dirt from flying in their mouths as they dig.
• They can walk equally fast both backward and forward.

The Beaver

It's not a very exotic choice (at least to those of us in North America), but it's engineering feats make it one of the most amazing animals on the planet. The video has some amazing footage of Beavers at work building and maintaining a dam, felling trees, storing branches in the refrigerating cool waters of the lake they created, and passing the winter in their well-insulated lodge. It's a very industrious little creature. It also has an amazing capacity to hold its breath underwater, a trait that serves it well in eluding its predators, and doing its day-to-day tasks.

The Capybara

This is the largest rodent in the world at about 4 feet long and 110 lbs, and it resembles an overgrown guinea pig. The Capybara is indigenous to South America. It is as fast as a small horse on land, but also well-adapted to water so that they can navigate the flooded grasslands during rainy season.

Favorite Mammal Episode III: The Gerenuk

Speaking of heads in the clouds, here's an animal that can get pretty high trying to eat its favorite food, the leaves of the Acacia tree: The Gerenuk.

Episode 3 of the BBC's Life of Mammals is entitled "Plant Pradators" and it deals with the multitude of mammals who eat vegetation in its various forms, and the unique challenges this diet creates. The instincutal intelligence that's evolved for these animals is quite impressive, allowing them to uniquely adapt to their environments. One example of this are the Elephants who have become salt miners, scraping cave walls with their tusks in order to compensate for the mineral diffeciencies caused by their usual plant eating ways.

And then there's the small Pika from the Canadian Rockies, which looks like a round-eared rabbit, and collects plants with varying degrees of toxicity to build up its winter stores (the poisons preserve the vegetation through the cold, so the least toxic plants are eaten first and the most toxic toward the end of the season).

As for the Gerenuk, it's one of several animals who eat different strata of the Acacia, ranging from the small Dik-Dik to the majestic Giraffe. It's able to reach branches that animals of comparable size, for example the Impala, can't because of the Gerenuk's ability to swivel on its hips and stand upright. Now that's one intelligent design!

Favorite Mammal Episode II: The Pangolin

Episode two of the 2002 BBC series Life of Mammals is entitled "Insect Hunters" and it takes a look at various shrews (woodland and water), moles, hedgehogs, anteaters and bats (essentially shrews with wings). Of these, one of the most interesting to me is the African Pangolin (pictured at left, courtesy of the African Wildlife Foundation). A body covered with hard keratin scales give it the look of a small dinosaur as it ambles along on its hind legs.

Here are a few interesting facts about Pangolins:

• They are toothless
• Their ears have special valves to keep ants out
• They roll themselves into a ball to defend themselves
• They have anal scent glands like skunks
• They swallow small stones to help their digestion
• They have very long tongues (up to 16 inches) and sticky saliva

You can read more about Pangolins at:

AWF Pangolin Page
Answers.com Pangolin Page

Other cool little insect hunters (linked to more info):

The Golden Mole (a "sand swimmer")
The Star-nosed Mole (has 22 little "arms" protruding from its nose)
The Sengi or Elephant Shrew (creates tidy trails on which it sprints to evade predators)

An introduction to the Echidna

I'm watching DVDs of the BBC series The Life of Mammals with David Attenborough (see the IMDB listing for more details), which takes a very long and interesting look at the huge variety of animals in the mammalian class.

The first episode deals with the mammals who are closest to those that evolved 200 million years ago, Monotremes (egg-layers) and Marsupials (pouches). There are only two surviving monotremes: the Platypus and the Echidna. I'd never seen or heard of the latter, and it's pretty damn cool looking, in my humble opinion -- a cross between a hedge hog and an anteater.

The Answers.com Echidna page has info on the animal from a number of different sources. The photo here is courtesy of the Ryan Photographic website, which has some really cool Nature shots.

I'll probably put up info on other animals as I watch the rest of the series.