Re: chimps on the savanna? Nooooo.....
Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
28 Oct 1995 15:41:18 GMT
In article <hubey.814831527@pegasus.montclair.edu> H. M. Hubey,
hubey@pegasus.montclair.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? :-)..
You never quit do you? I don't care what kind of savanna. The point is
that it is relatively open country compared to "forest." It is in fact,
exactly the kind of country you might expect to see lions or hyenas in.
>>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.
Do you see a bit of irony in the fact that you constantly lecture on the
evils of binary thinking modes, and yet fall back on it yourself when
your position is under attack?
Yes, chimps are forest animals. They are also woodland animals, and
riverine forest animals, and SAVANNA animals. If your definition of
savanna means an open grassland without a tree in sight, then I agree
with you that chimps don't go there. However, that is not what I mean
when I say savanna, nor is it what "savanna" is usually understood to
mean in the current context.
Alex Duncan
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1086
512-471-4206
aduncan@mail.utexas.edu
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