Re: chimps in the CEHE (on the savanna?)

H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
27 Oct 1995 18:11:40 -0400

Alex Duncan <aduncan@mail.utexas.edu> writes:

>"Some African species, such as baboons (Papio spp.), the vervet monkey
>(Cercopithecus aethiops), the patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas) and the
>common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), live in open or lightly wooded
>savanna."

"Live"?? Is that like picnic? Now you have to sic the author on
the other guy who writes that the number of simian primates
in the grasslands is zero. (What is savanna ?)

>"Recent studies on savanna-dwelling chimpanzees in Senegal and Tanzania
>may be particularly relevant [for drawing analogies about early hominid
>adaptation]."

Which kind of savanna??? Mosaic, wooded or riverine? :-)..

>And now, just in case Mr. Hubey tries to back out of his original
>statements:

I don't see any reason to back out of any statement. For one thing
we're discussing statistical concepts, fuzzy concepts, i.e. something
much better than pure verbiage. Yes, the chimps live in
forests. That's a general statement and still true.

>Hubey's response:
>>proven? I thought chimps were forest animals and that their main
>>enemy were leopards not lions, hynenas etc.

That was my "authoritative" statement. It's still true.
Chimps are forest animals.

Duncan, you should try to stretch your intellectual
horizons a little bit more beyond bone-gazing.

You are really scratching the bottom of the barrel.

>managed life in open country, because they wouldn't have been able to
>deal with the predators there. Chimps were pointed out as a possible

Still believe it. Put some chimps out in the same "open country"
as shared by lions and hyenas and test it out.

In fact, why don't you take a few people like yourself
with some sticks and stones and spend a few nights there.

-- 





				Regards, Mark

				http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey