RIP: cheetah

[del]

Cheetah the chimpanzee who starred in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s has died at the age of 80, it has been announced.

The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbour, Florida, said Cheetah died of kidney failure on Dec 24.

Debbie Cobb, director of the sanctuary, said that in his retirement the chimp had loved finger painting and seemed particularly attuned to human feelings.

He came to the sanctuary from the estate of the star of the Tarzan series - American Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller - during the early 1960s

Cheetah the chimpanzee, Tarzan film star, dies aged 80 - Telegraph

 

[Sherry]

I was looking at that place online about a month ago for something in the area to do, but we never went because I really didn't want to see them in cages...I love chimps, and am still pissed about Escape to Chimp Eden being cancelled.

 

[freedombecki]

RIP, Cheetah. Thanks for the memories.

 

[Harry Dresden]

one of the greats.....

 

[jillian]

i love that he retired to florida... must have been a jewish chimpanzee...

RIP, Cheetah.

 

[blastoff]

Yeah, old Cheetah. One of the great swingers of all time...RIP.

 

[Claudette]

Jeeze. How many movies did I see that chimp in?? RIP Cheetah.

 

[waltky]

Granny talks to the apes over at the zoo alla time...

Chimpanzees consider their audience when communicating
29 December 2011 - The chimps appear to be motivated to communicate relevant information to an individual

Chimpanzees appear to consider who they are "talking to" before they call out. Researchers found that wild chimps that spotted a poisonous snake were more likely to make their "alert call" in the presence of a chimp that had not seen the threat. This indicates that the animals "understand the mindset" of others. The insight into the primates' remarkable intelligence will be published in the journal Current Biology.

The University of St Andrews scientists, who carried out the work, study primate communication to uncover some of the origins of human language. To find out how the animals "talked to each other" about potential threats, they placed plastic snakes - models of rhino and gaboon vipers - into the paths of wild chimpanzees and monitored the primates' reactions. "These [snake species] are well camouflaged and they have a deadly bite," explained Dr Catherine Crockford from University of St Andrews, who led the research. "They also tend to sit in one place for weeks. So if a chimp discovers a snake, it makes sense for that animal to let everyone else know where [it] is."

The scientists put the snake on a path that the chimps were using regularly, secreting the plastic models in the leaves. "When [the chimps] saw the model, they would be quite close to it and would leap away, but they wouldn't call," she told BBC Nature. "It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction." After leaping away, each chimp immediately, very carefully, approached the snake again. And this time, they would make a soft "hoo" sound if they were close to a chimp that was not aware the snake was there. "We monitored the snake all day, so we knew which animals had seen it and which hadn't," Dr Crockford explained.

She added that when the primates called out, They were "very focused on their audience". "That's not entirely new," she said. "Lots of animals give alarm calls and are more likely to give an alarm call [when another animal is present]." But what is new here, she continued, is that "they seem tuned, not into who the audience is, but to what the audience knows".

More BBC Nature - Chimpanzees consider their audience when communicating

See also:

Orangutans 'could video chat' between zoos via iPads
29 December 2011 - Orangutans at a Milwaukee zoo could soon be video-calling their primate friends via tablet computers.

The hairy tech fans have been playing with iPads since they were first introduced to them in May. Conservationist Richard Zimmerman said the next step would be to provide wi-fi access - meaning the apes could watch orangutans in other zoos. He hopes the experiment will raise awareness and funds to support the wild animals facing extinction.

Mr Zimmerman, from the US-based charity Orangutan Outreach, said he had wanted to give the device to the animals ever since it was launched back in January 2010. "The original idea came literally when Steve Jobs gave his opening presentation introducing the iPad," he said. "Independently, one of our supporters in Milwaukee was at the zoo showing the orangutan his iPad, and they were fascinated by it. We started to put things together."

Basic curiosity

They began introducing simple apps, such as drawing game Doodle Buddy, to orangutans at Milwaukee County Zoo. Mr Zimmerman said the idea was to provide a "bit of fun" for the animals, who only get to use the devices for two short periods every week. "What we really want to do is to allow the orangutans to really play - to do paintings, to watch videos, to do almost as a human child would do with basic curiosity."

The animals have, Mr Zimmerman said, been captivated by watching television on the devices, particularly when it featured other orangutans, and even more so when they saw faces they recognised. "They love moving images. They love bright things. They like to be entertained! "They love new things, so one of the first things we're going to do to incorporate that is make sure the facilities have wi-fi capabilities so that the orangutans can actually have access to unlimited information - of course with the keepers guiding them."

Attenborough fan

 

[AmericanFirst]

Cheetah the chimpanzee who starred in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s has died at the age of 80, it has been announced.

The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbour, Florida, said Cheetah died of kidney failure on Dec 24.

Debbie Cobb, director of the sanctuary, said that in his retirement the chimp had loved finger painting and seemed particularly attuned to human feelings.

He came to the sanctuary from the estate of the star of the Tarzan series - American Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller - during the early 1960s

Cheetah the chimpanzee, Tarzan film star, dies aged 80 - Telegraph

I didn't know chimps could live that long.

 

[Two Thumbs]

one last time for the old boy

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHWbsvgQUE]Johnny Weismuller Tarzan Call - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Againsheila]

and another part of my childhood bites the dust. RIP Cheetah.

 

[Dot Com]

Heard this on the radio last night: Cheetah the chimp is dead? Maybe not

Regardless, RIP Cheetah