{"id":1427,"date":"2019-03-02T08:36:32","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T12:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summerofjim.com\/?p=1427"},"modified":"2019-03-27T21:38:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T01:38:59","slug":"a-problem-in-the-bronx-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=1427","title":{"rendered":"A Problem in the Bronx Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We share 98% of our DNA with the Lowland Gorilla.&nbsp; Can\nwe say that we are <em>fairly<\/em> close on the evolutionary tree? Among the\nfeatures that we have in common are opposable thumbs and finger nails. Finger\nnails?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finger nails!&nbsp; Think about it!&nbsp; Finger nails grow\u2026\n<em>all the time<\/em>! Do you think gorillas in the wild have nail clippers or\nemery boards? Perhaps they are inveterate nail biters?&nbsp; Well\u2026 it turns out\nthat within a gorilla troop there is one individual that is designated as a\n\u201cmanicurist\u201d.&nbsp; This falls in line with the cooperative \u201cgrooming\u201d that is\nvery much a part of primate behavior.&nbsp; The gorilla manicurist uses a small\nrough-edged rock (perhaps a stick) to pare back the length of nails.&nbsp; What\nis not known is whether the manicurist is role specific to a single gorilla in\nthe troop, or whether the role is performed on a rotational basis within the\ntroop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But a problem has developed with gorillas in\ncaptivity.&nbsp; Zoo keepers have failed at effectively replacing <em>natural <\/em>gorilla\nmanicurists with human ones.&nbsp; At the Bronx Zoo three manicurists from the\nPop &amp; Polish Nail Salon on Young\n  Avenue were hired to take care of the Zoo\u2019s\ngorilla population. It didn\u2019t work. The manicurists complained about the\ngorillas\u2019 brutish and rude behavior. One manicurist was livid at a young male\nmaking uninvited advances.&nbsp; About the dominant male, another said, \u201cAll\nthe big one did was grunt and try to look down my blouse!&nbsp; I didn\u2019t sign\non for that!\u201d &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">OK, back to the drawing board\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>n.b. <\/em>In the wild, lowland gorillas use tree sap as a cure for painful in-grown toe nails.&nbsp; There is much that we can learn from our primate cousins!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"466\" height=\"452\" src=\"http:\/\/www.summerofjim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/lowland-gorilla.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1428\" srcset=\"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/lowland-gorilla.jpg 466w, http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/lowland-gorilla-300x291.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We share 98% of our DNA with the Lowland Gorilla.&nbsp; Can we say that we are fairly close on the evolutionary tree? Among the features that we have in common are opposable thumbs and finger nails. Finger nails? Finger nails!&nbsp; &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=1427\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories-brief-tales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1427"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27353,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1427\/revisions\/27353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}