When it’s monkey verse man who do you think will win?

The answer may surprise you.

Researchers in Japan pitted 5 year old chimpanzees against human adults in a memory test.

Both groups sat in front of video screens with numbers one through nine scattered on them.

One by one the chimps touched the numbers… in the right order.

In more difficult tests the numbers disappeared after the first one was touched.

The chimps remembered where the numbers were and in the right order.

And humans? Not so much.

The research shows when it comes to short-term memory chimps may be higher on the evolutionary chain.

The newborn black howler monkey at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo seems so small and so quiet right now. But once the pint-sized primate grows up, it’ll be among the loudest animals on the planet.

Second in volume only to the blue whale, the black howler monkey is the loudest animal on earth, emitting yells that can be heard up to two miles away. The Zoo’s newest howler monkey was born on May 28 to mother Springer and father Oz, who had their first offspring together about a year ago.

Their baby, whose sex has yet to be determined, clings to its mother 24 hours a day and likely will do so for a few more months before venturing out alone. It has blondish brown hair matching Springer’s, and will stay that way if it’s a female or turn dark black over time if it’s a male.

Black howler monkeys are endangered in their native Latin American rainforests because of hunting and habitat destruction. Their loud howling is most prevalent early in the morning and late at night, and troops in the wild use it to gauge their distance from other howler monkeys they might be competing with for food or territory.

While only able to squeak so far, the infant howler monkey at the Zoo is doing well and is on display in the Primate, Cat & Aquatics Building daily.

Amanda, one of 13 capuchin monkeys at the Alameda Park Zoo, gave birth late Saturday night.

The baby, whom zoo staff have named “A.J.,” will spend the first several months of its life clinging to mom as she moves about the enclosure she shares with 12 others of her kind, including a male named Amos.

Native to the rainforests of South America, capuchins normally live in colonies which may consist of up to 30 individuals.

The capuchin uses its opposable thumbs and prehensile tail to assist in reaching fruits, seeds and leaves that make up the vast majority of its diet in the wild.

The lifespan of a capuchin monkey is 35 to 40 years in captivity and probably ten years less in the wild because of predators and potential illnesses.

“Amanda is approximately 20 years old,” zoo director Steven Diehl said.

Contrary to what many people believe, monkeys do not make good pets. Monkeys have the ability to seriously injure humans. When scared or threatened, they will not hesitate to urinate or defecate on someone who may be handling or holding them. The canine teeth that monkeys possess are designed to slash, slice and penetrate the though husks of coconuts and other organic fare that they feed on.

While television and movies such as “Pirates of the Caribbean,” which features a capuchin monkey, would suggest they do indeed make good pets, what most people don’t realize is that primates used for movies and television are usually juveniles who have not yet reached maturity.

Most chimps used in film work are less than 3 years old.

A recent paper published in the journal Science unveiled the entire genome of the rhesus macaque, an Old World monkey used extensively in medical and biological research. Researchers say the development will be highly informative about diseases in humans.

“The availability of this genome sequence will enable new and better experiments that will speed up the pace of research and reduce the number of animals needed for biomedical research in the long run,” the paper states.

David Glenn Smith, a professor in the department of anthropology and one of the lead authors on a related paper focusing on population studies comparing Indian and Chinese macaques, said an important part of understanding human disease is trying to localize where genes that influence them are found in the genome.

According to Smith, rhesus monkeys are the principal animal model for studies of diseases common in the human population primarily because the two share about 93 percent of their DNA sequence. Chimpanzee genomes had been available before the rhesus sequencing effort, but were not as useful because they diverged recently in evolutionary history from humans, according to the paper.

Smith said in order to understand how genes influence phenotypic effects, researchers will look at genetic differences in various parts of the rhesus genome, thus getting an idea where in the genome there are correlations between different genes and susceptibility to disease.

“The differences between rhesus macaques and humans can be looked at as a genetic difference, and then we can ask where the phenotypic differences are and what genes those phenotypic differences correlate with, and we can find out genetic reasons for humans to be as they are,” he said.

Sreetharan Kanthaswamy, a professional researcher at the California National Primate Research Center in Davis, said the rhesus sequencing will provide a complete pedigree of diseases with a genetic background. Subsequently, knowing how the disease evolved will give researchers a better understanding of how to treat it.

“Now you have this huge toolbox where you have a disease and it’s got an address now and you can pinpoint where this disease lives,” he said.

The CNPRC, according to Smith, is part of a network of eight national primate research centers sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. One center located on the UC Davis campus houses approximately 4,700 monkeys, according to its website.

Smith said the availability of the rhesus monkey genome map will be a boon to the Davis research center, which focuses on assistive reproductive technology and pulmonary and infectious disease research.

Additionally, both researchers agreed that undergraduate students have a unique opportunity in being able to intern and participate in research at the center, setting themselves up for what Kanthaswamy described as the “boom time” for rhesus monkey scientists.

An adventurous baboon who left his troop in Tokai to trek across the Cape Flats, caused much consternation before he was darted on Wednesday.

Jenni Trethowan who is with the baboon monitoring group Baboon Matters said it was likely the young male, called David, was searching for a new troop to join.

But David encountered many obstacles, including a very busy main road.

On Wednesday, he caused drama in Claremont’s Main Road.

David’s adventures brought him a gash on his leg, which Trethowan said could be from another baboon or a dog-bite.

With the help of the SPCA, David was darted on Wednesday afternoon and taken to a vet in Sun Valley for treatment.

Trethowan said it was a reasonably deep flesh wound, right through his muscles.

He was scheduled to stay at the vet for the night, pending a decision to take him to a rehabilitation centre in Barrydale.

David was first spotted by Constantia residents on Tuesday and he made his way during the day to the roof of Claremont police station. He spent the night somewhere nearby before he apparently made for Wynberg on Wednesday.

While in Claremont, David was surrounded and tranquillised.

Goeldi’s monkeys are endangered. They are native to South America and considered to be a relatively “new” monkey. No one knew anything about them until 1904 when a man named Emilio Goeldi discovered them.

Azee and Cinco seem to be very happy living with each other at the Denver Zoo. They arrived here last fall.

Azee is the female. She is 3 years old. Cinco, the male, is just a year old.

They are constantly on the move in their exhibit in the “monkey house”. They also live with some tamanduas, as they would in the rainforests of South America.

Goeldi’s monkeys like to be around one another. In the wild, they live in extended families in the rain forest. They have a very loud call which they use to keep in touch and warn each other if predators are around.

If you go to visit Azee and Cinco at the zoo, you will probably be able hear them call out from the other side of the glass.

The Zoo’s Spring/Summer hours begin on Sunday, April 1st. The zoo will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until the end of September.

The discovery of a new monkey species that’s found only in Uganda is being overshadowed by the imminent destruction of much of the animal’s habitat.

Primatologist Colin Groves from the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at ANU said his analysis of the gray-cheeked mangabey (Lophocebus albigena) in the small, central African nation has revealed that the local monkeys constitute a new species – but that there are plans afoot to clear the forest that’s home to a quarter of the animal’s population.

“By taking careful measurements of the skulls of the gray-cheeked mangabeys in Uganda, I discovered that they were considerably different compared to those of similar monkeys in surrounding countries,” Professor Groves said.

“These animals will soon be named the Ugandan gray-cheeked mangabey (Lophocebus ugandae), making them the first monkey species endemic to Uganda.”

But Professor Groves said that the new species faces a serious threat if a plan to clear its major habitat area goes ahead. He said the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni had given permission for 7,000 hectares of the Mabira Forest to be cleared for sugar and palm oil production. This decision was attacked by many Ugandans, who saw it as a threat to tourism and water resources.

Keepers at the Joburg Zoo may have found a way to make the dosing of animals just a little easier.

The keepers of the ape section, in anticipation of the need to inoculate the primates, decided to experiment on their pair of gibbons, Dodi and Glasgow, and their new baby boy.

Learner keeper Faye Robinson explained: “Every time we need to give them shots or medicine, we are normally forced to catch them and pin them down.”

Three months ago the keepers started coaxing the gibbons to put their arms through the cage, allowing the keepers to hold them.

“We took an empty syringe and started tapping them on the arm, to get them used to it. The true test came last week when they needed to get their shots and the gibbons obediently offered their arms for it.”

In addition, the keepers also filled other syringes with juice or banana yoghurt and coaxed the gibbons to suck from the end of the syringe, to accustom them to taking medicine orally.

According to Althea Guinsberg, curator of the primates, if this method proves effective it will be tried out on other primates at the zoo

A man was convicted of stealing a rare monkey from a British zoo based on blood spilled during a unified attack by the animal’s fellow primates.

Marlon Brown was convicted Friday of stealing “SpongeBob” the monkey from the Chessington World of Adventures. Police linked his blood to that of the robber’s found at the scene of the crime, The Independent reported.

Others are thought to have also been involved in the theft.

While the 23-year-old offered several reasons for his blood being found at the zoo, a jury found him guilty of stealing the rare Bolivian squirrel monkey.

“SpongeBob” was found two days after being taken, playing in the public with children in London.

Zoo officials said they are happy to have their monkey back and that the guilty will be punished.

“The futile actions of Mr. Brown and his friends have had ongoing serious consequences not only for ‘SpongeBob’ but also for the rest of the group, and we are very happy that Mr. Brown has been found guilty for being so cruel and irresponsible,” a zoo spokeswoman told the newspaper.

In the Venkatapuram vIllage in Andhra Pradesh (in India), a monkey is performing unique duties. He is being treated as a trusted member of the family of a shepherd and is taking care of the goats.

The monkey named Anji not only leads the goats but also brings them back. The goats have become the monkey’s friends. He plays with them all day and even looks after them when the shepherd and other family members are not around. In fact he has become not only the boss of the goats but also that of the shepherd.

The owner Yesanna, who is in his 40s stated that once Anji had come to his house following which he offered him some food. Since then it became faithful to the family.

It is Anji’s responsibility to count the number of goats when they go for grazing and while bringing them back it is his duty to count them again and so far the number has been the same. He is able to manage controlling the goats.