Re: AAT Questions...
Gerrit Hanenburg (ghanenbu@inter.nl.net)
Thu, 6 Jul 1995 17:54:43 GMT
patdooley@aol.com (Pat Dooley) wrote:
> ghanenbu@inter.nl.net (Gerrit Hanenburg) writes:
>>George B.Schaller writes:In Kabara the gorrillas seemingly enjoy the
>>sun when it appears.Their reaction is often immediate:they roll onto
>>their backs,spread their arms above their heads or to the side,and
>>expose their chests to the rays.I have observed animals lie in the
>>direct sun for more than two hours,with beads of sweat forming on
>>their upper lip and rivulets of it running down the chest.
>>From:The Mountain Gorilla.Ecology and Behaviour. University of Chicago
>>Press.1963.page 295 in the midway reprint.
>Did he get a sample of the alleged sweat? Was it eccrine or apocrine
>sweating?
I don't know if he got samples but let me cite the following from "The
Natural History of The Gorilla" by A.F.Dixson:
"Two kinds of sweat glands are found in the skin,the apocrine and
eccrine glands. .....in males the armpits contain many large apocrine
glands arranged in four to seven layers.This so-called "axillary
organ" is responsible for the rank odour of silverbacks,......
Eccrine sweat glands are found in many areas of the skin,but the
highest concentrations are found in the palms of the hands and soles
of the feet." Columbia University Press.1981.
>Since the evidence appears to be anecdotal, I wouldn't give it much weight
Would you call a total of 466 hours of direct observation of gorillas
still anecdotal? (G.B.Schaller,1963)
>until other possible causes had been eliminated; e.g. saliva, residual
>moisture in their fur, etc.
Saliva running in rivulets down their chests?No one has ever reported
a gorilla drooling like a cataract.
Residual moisture from the fur? After two hours in the baking sun?
>In laboratory tests, the experimenters were not able to induce sweating in
>chimpanzees even when the temperature was taken above the range
>they would naturally encounter. (My source is Elaine Morgan's work. I
>haven't checked her citations on this issue).
Check her citations and give me some of her references.
Gerrit.
|