Apes Go Aquatic by Scott LaFee - Eureka! on Creators.com

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Apes Go Aquatic

Generally speaking, orangutans are deathly afraid of lakes or rivers, which in their natural habitat tends to be where predatory snakes and crocodiles lurk. Plus, the apes are lousy swimmers. Their dense bodies tend to sink in water. Some zoos, which had used water-filled moats around their orangutan exhibits, filled them in after too many apes drowned.

But new research suggests that either a handful of orangutans are learning to get over their hydrophobia or their fears are the product of parents.

Anne Russon of York University in Canada studies orphaned orangutans relocated to Kaja Island in Borneo. She has documented one adolescent orangutan leaping into deep water and doing a very bad version of the dog paddle and another pair engaging in, shall we say, friendly behaviors in water, perhaps to avoid being interrupted by more dominant males.

Most surprising, though, may be multiple occasions in which orangutans appear to go fishing. The apes rarely hunt, preferring to dine mostly on fruits. But researchers have seen orangutans sometimes scavenge dead fish washed up during the dry season. Russon goes further: She says some of the orphaned apes have jumped into smaller pools to grab live fish.

She speculates that orphaning may have compelled the orangutans of Kaja to be more independent and freethinking.

NO FOOLING

On April 1, UKSA was born. That's the acronym for the United Kingdom Space Agency, which will assume all responsibilities for policy and budget issues related to future English exploits in space. Apart from the clunky sound of the acronym, it's also not original.

There's also a maritime academy called UKSA, which the space folks in London probably should have known about.

It's located on the Isle of Wight, the largest island of England and located smack-dab in the English Channel. You don't even need a rocket ship to get there. Just a ship will do. The UKSA people will be happy to show you how to sail it.

VERBATIM

"The chili grenade has been found fit for use."

— Col. R. Kalia, a spokesman for the Indian military, on the development of a tear gas-like weapon based on the bhut jolokia pepper, purportedly the world's spiciest chili

BRAIN SWEAT

Translate these rebuses:

1. sdraw

2. C H I M A D E N A

3. TTTTTTTTTT

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE

Hungarian physiologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi once submitted a paper to the august science journal Nature in which he described the isolation of a new sugar molecule. Like all sugars, the new molecule required a name ending in "-ose," similar to sucrose, fructose and glucose. Given its uncertain structure, Szent-Gyorgyi suggested the name "ignose."

The journal's editors thought the name frivolous and rejected it. They asked for a new name, to which Szent-Gyorgyi responded, "godnose."

In the end, Szent-Gyorgyi's discovery turned out not to be a sugar at all, but a form of acid more commonly known as vitamin C. Szent-Gyorgyi didn't get to name it, but the discovery did help earn him the Nobel Prize for physiology in 1937.

BRAIN SWEAT ANSWERS

1. backwards

2. made in China

3. Tents (10 Ts)

WHAT IS IT? ANSWER

A scanning electron micrograph of fresh snow crystals.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.