Howdy! Animal Photographer, great ape lover

Hello fellow ATS users! I Have been lurking for months and finally decided to sign up so i can post some stuff.

I have a wide variety of interests on theses boards and IRL. My passion is animal photography, especially the great apes. I have been curious about how humans became humans and that lead me to investigate the great apes.

I live around the DC area and frequent the National Zoo in DC to visit and watch the orangutans and gorillas and travel up to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore to watch and photograph the chimpanzees.

It is truly amazing how similar us humans are to the great apes. I have seen some amazing things and i want to share two photos with you guys that i photographed. The first photo is of an Orangutan cleaning a window. The amazing thing about this photo is how many different tools she used to do this job.




As you can see, the female orangutan is holding in her hand a cloth to wipe clean the window. In her mouth is a sponge she created out of a strip of cloth which was rolled with hay in the middle. She then put this sponge in her mouth to collect saliva. Once the sponge was totally soaked with liquid, she put her mouth up to the window and "sprayed" the window with her "cleaning liquid". Using another torn cloth as a wiping cloth she proceeded to move around the liquid to clean the glass. She wasn't done! She THEN used her hair arms as a squeegee to dry the liquid. Pretty amazing huh! I documented every step of the way, so if you want more photos just ask and i will post them here.

The second photo i want to share is of a chimpanzee. This is Jambo from the Maryland Zoo. Jambo is the daughter of the alpha female, which means she is like a princess. She is very smart, get's what she wants and has a lot of fun.




This photo shows how animated and human like chimpanzees can be. To me, i find this photo almost magical. Jambo loves the feel of sand and loves to throw sand around and watch how it flies through the air. She enjoys dropping the sand on her feet for pleasure. You can see in her eyes how much she loves this and how much she is concentrating on the sand.

The reason i am sharing these photos is to show you that these animals are not stupid, they are very intelligent.

The more i read and gain knowledge, i do not know what to believe, and that is why i am here. I don't know if we were "created" or if we "evolved" but this is my biggest question, how did we get here?

Thanks for this awesome forum and i hope i can contribute to this great place!

Also one question, if i search a topic and i find something that is 2+ years old, am i aloud to bump it back up with a insightful thought? Thanks!

I'll be among the first to say hello although I am relatively new here myself. Hello! And welcome!

Jane Goodall was always a hero of mine. I am too empathetic to watch the Dianne Fossy story without becoming deeply deeply suicidally depressed, so I avoid such shows. I love Digit though.
I once wrote to Jack Hanna after deciding the great ape in Bush Gardens Florida looked terribly unhappy to me. I recommended he give the ape at least a television set. Even criminals in jail get at least a television set. I know it sounds dumb for an ape but if it can keep me entertained for hours...I think it can help to alleviate at least a little of the boredom this poor creature must endure.

Anyway I run off in tangents and have some wild theories but am basically harmless. I wish everyone were.

Pleased to make your acquaintance. Wish you many happy threads and equally warm responses!

Welcome to ATS hope you enjoy your stay! I do love your photos although I have a hard time going to the ape house myself. I end up feeling so sad for them, being held in captivity,looking into their eyes...it's too human. I am originally from D.C. and now live on the eastern shore of MD so it's nice that your from the area. As far as the bumping up of threads, I'm not really sure but I'll bet someone more knowledgeable will eventually chime in. Well again...welcome to ATS and hope to bump into you in the future. Take care!

Hello and welcome to ATS And yes feel free to bump a thread with your thoughts no matter how long ago it started, Once you have your 20 posts feel free to make your own thread,

I am also in to photography (as a hobby) And i have such a great passion for gorillas also so im sure i will be chatting to you about that.

Im very pleased that you have joined up with us and i cant wait to see you around the boards,

If you need any help getting around be sure to let me know!

Asala,

reply to post by BeastMaster2012


I have heard that female great apes in the congo have entered the fields where there are pregnant women working in the fields and give mangos and fruit to the pregnant women!!!!

And who can forget the scene of the toddler who fell into the great ape cage in a zoo and was scooped up and protected from more aggressive males by a female ape?

These apes are my cousins and I must admit - I love them dearly.

wow ruse.. i have visited those chimps at busch gardens and it too saddened me. Did you see the old chimpanzee!?!? The one with the dropped lower lips?!? I almost cried when i saw him and i am getting teary eyed right now thinking of him! I will never forget seeing this old chimp, equivilent of a 100 year old man trying to walk, it was the most painful thing.

Busch Gardens was a nightmare for me.

Did you see some of my posters some how?!? I made a Jane Goodall poster and a Dian Fossey poster.. and in the Jane Goodall poster i used a photo i took at Busch Gardens. You either found my photostream through the images i posted or we are channeling each other's minds.. unreal!

Thank you for the reply!

reply to post by BeastMaster2012


BeastMaster, welcome to ATS and I couldn't agree more about the intelligence of the great apes -I don't know if you've heard of Desmond Morris before (British anthropologist) but he shares your thoughts as well.

If you've got any more good pics feel free to post them in the nature pic thread (link) and see you around on the boards.

Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Welcome to ATS. Always good to have a fellow Ape friend here. I spent time last year in Indonesia working with Dr Birute Galdikas and wild orphaned orangutans at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine Facility, in Pasir Panjang, Borneo, You are very correct that Orangutans are extremely creative and intelligent, and that we share an evolutionary behavior development.

You can learn more about her work here: Orangutan Foundation International

Along with Jane Goodall, and Dian Fossey, Dr Galdikas is also one of "Leakey's Angels," sponsored by the great archeologist Louis Leakey.

I hope to see more of your photos and any new threads you may start. I will be back in Indonesia with the Orangutans later this year, and hope to post notes from the field.

Welcome to ATS Beastmaster. Thanks for sharing your photos and I'm looking forward to seeing more. Put on your seatbelt because you never know where the ATS ride will take you. Enjoy, share and contribute. Glad you're here! regards, ATA

[edit on 10-3-2010 by Asktheanimals]

reply to post by BeastMaster2012


Never saw the posters. Honored to share a wavelength. Peace and success in all you do.

Welcome to ATS and awesome photos!

Enjoy the ride...

Excellent Photos

Greetings to you.

Have fun, enjoy, share, love grow, learn and as an Animal and Ape Monkey lover to I thought you will like the following thread with amazing Monkey photos:

Humans Closest and Sex Mad Relative is under Threat of Extinction

Enjoy

Elf

I found that link shocking and inapropriate.To show animals in the "act" is quite degrading to all concerned.

Why must man place the shackles of amusement onto a monkey.These animals are vessels of dignity,enchanting erchinns.

Thank you all so much for your replies! I will share a few more photos!

Terapin, that is way cool. I have thought about doing something like that, that is one of my dreams. I would love to do that and do photography...


Ruse, here are a few posters i designed.

This is my "Leaky's Angels" Poster dedicated to the three great ape women!


Here is my Jane Goodall quote poster,


And here is my Dian Fossey quote


As for the bonobos, yes i think we are more closely related to them. I will make a post about the bonobos soon, i almost think that they could be the missing link.

Here is a close group of females that i photographed at the Jacksonville Zoo. The Bonobo on the left is the 39 year old mother and the 3 other are her 3 female daughters! You can really see how loving they are and how human like they are. The pair on the right, a young adult female and a teenage female were very caring with each other as you can see. While grooming you can tell how gentle that they are with each other and how much they use their hands, just like us. Instead of having voices like humans they do their talking with their lips and body language ofcourse. It is just so cool to see!


Also one last fun bonobo pic! This is the youngest female having fun. If anyone can guess how she got in this position i will give you e-hug!



Thanks again everyone and i am excited about posting here!

Originally posted by KANDINSKI
I found that link shocking and inapropriate.To show animals in the "act" is quite degrading to all concerned.

Why must man place the shackles of amusement onto a monkey.These animals are vessels of dignity,enchanting erchinns.

I am sorry for that, as this will be off topic to discuss it here if you want to add those thoughts to the thread Linked it would be nice to explore those issues.

If you actually read through that thread you will see rather than degrading them my aim is to bring to prominence their highly evolved emotional nature, both individually and in their society. And also so others can see their plight.

I am sure the OP though he took snaps in the zoo would like to take pics in the more natural setting, so I could say seeing pics of Apes in cages is disturbing to me, but to see them procreating is fine.

BeastMaster2012 do you think being an Ape lover in your opinion it is degrading to show them making love (as they are the only species besides man who look into each others eyes as they procreate)?

The second group of photos you posted are great.

If you wanted to upload them to ATS Media

Then use the embed link, you can display them in the actual posts.

Kind Regards,

Elf

Thanks ELF! i was wondering how to do that!

I honestly love seeing animals mating. It is such a rare event and it is so exciting to watch the mating rituals of some animals. My favorite that i have seen were the Giant Pandas at the National Zoo. The female only has about a week out of the year where she can become pregnant and that is the only time they put the male and female together. For 2 days the male panda would chase the female around while the female BLEATED ( a very loud yell) which you could hear from quite a far distance. The female would walk about 10 feet, pause and lay on the ground. The male would stand behind and try to hump the female but he was HORRIBLE! He was humping the leg most of the time and he probably mounted her once every 2 minutes non stop for hours! After he was done mounting the female he would CLIMB ontop of her back and start to play bite the females back of the neck, something that big cats do. This was interesting to see because i could see how bad of a lover the pandas are and that is probably one of the reasons they are so endangered! Imagine, this animal only gets a few days out of the year to become pregnant and the male can't even aim it in the right place! That is why they tried showing Panda Porn to the pandas to try to teach them how to do it.



As for the Orangutan and great apes, YES i think it is important to look at how they mate, and WHY they mate! This is another key to seeing if we are truly related to this animals, which i think we are.

The Orangutan is arguably a better lover than the bonobos, and i have seen the Orangutans mating first hand!

While the Bonobos will mate often and with almost anyone and is used mainly to relieve stress and tension (and as a handshake), the sexual act only lasts a few seconds, maybe 10 seconds at most. The Orangutans on the other hand take love making to a whole new level!

The Orangs will mate for minutes and for pleasure!

*NSFW* *NSFW* *NSFW* Orangutan mating like humans - Reverse Cowgirl

Here is a photo i took of female riding REVERSE COWGIRL ontop of a male. This went on for no joke over 5 minutes! The male just watched me the entire time, that was very strange. As you can see the female is keeping an eye on the back of the exhibit, she is waiting for keepers to come and give her some treats so she is multi tasking, having sex for pleasure and waiting for food!

The common chimpanzees will mate once a month only when the female is ovulating. You can see her sexual organs swell to an alarming size and they flirt HEAVILY with the males.. you can see them following the alpha males and almost raping them.

Welcome BeastMaster

I liked your Chimp and Sand pic.
I have recently acquired an interest in digital photography and visited Kruger National Park - posted a couple of my pics online here:

One of a Vervet monkey, and the other of 2 Baboons may be of interest to you.

My Pics

reply to post by deltaalphanovember


Thanks delta! i was interested in seeing your photos but that link did not work

reply to post by asala


I'm seeking WRITER STATUS. Are you able to flip the switch... so to speak???

reply to post by BeastMaster2012


Sorry - try this one:
Pics

If it doesn't work then u2u me. Thanks