In 2011, a gorilla named Zola gained internet fame when the Calgary Zoo posted a video that showed him spinning in circles on his knuckles and heels with what appeared to be a huge grin on his face. Zola, the so-called break-dancing gorilla, returned in 2017, this time in a video showing him whirling around a kiddie pool with a level of wild enthusiasm rivaling the most committed human dancer at an all-night rave.
Humans’ love of spinning around in circles, especially during childhood, is evidenced by the enduring popularity of playground merry-go-rounds, revolving fun park rides and the irresistible draw of somersaulting down a hill. But new research suggests that humans are not alone in their pursuit of spin-induced buzzes.
According to findings published last month in the journal Primates, other great ape species also seem to regularly enjoy stimulating their senses through spinning, possibly even in pursuit of altered mental states.
“Spinning around to make ourselves dizzy is something we usually think of as a distinctly human activity,” said Marcus Perlman, a cognitive scientist at the University of Birmingham in England and an author of the study. “So it’s really cool to find that other primates do this, too, and that they seem to do it for the same reason that children do: because it’s fun and exhilarating.”
An enjoyable experience
After Perlman saw the videos of Zola, he turned to YouTube to investigate whether other apes engaged in the behavior. He amassed nearly 400 videos showing great apes and other primates engaged in spinning behaviors, including somersaulting, rolling down hills, backflipping and pirouetting. But the new paper focuses on clips of apes spinning on ropes or ropelike materials.
Perlman and Adriano Lameira, a primatologist and evolutionary psychologist at the University of Warwick in England, found 132 instances of rope-spinning across 40 videos involving orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. The videos mostly featured captive apes, but several involved wild mountain gorillas on vines.
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The researchers calculated the speed at which the apes spun. Most of the apes, they found, spun at an average rotation velocity of 1.43 revolutions per second — a speed rivaling professionally trained human dancers and aerialists. The longest spin session lasted 28 revolutions, and the fastest — achieved by a bonobo — clocked in at a brain-scrambling 4 revolutions per second.
The researchers observed that the longer an ape spun, the more likely it was to show signs of dizziness, such as letting go of the rope and immediately sitting or lying down. Apes tended to repeat the process of spinning and stopping, engaging in an average of three bouts of spinning per session.
The animals also often made “play faces” while spinning, Perlman said, implying that they were most likely having fun rather than only seeking a way to relieve themselves of boredom in captivity.
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“There’s something about the experience they enjoy,” Perlman said.
Catherine Hobaiter, a primatologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland who was not involved in the research, concurred. Based on her observations in the field, she said, “wild apes love to spin.”
Animals getting high
Apes and some other animals are known to engage in other activities that can scramble the senses, including consuming fermented fruits containing alcohol and ingesting naturally occurring psychedelic substances. Whether this is done on purpose or by accident is debated, Perlman said. But studies such as this one can begin to provide data needed to explore behaviors that may be evolutionary precursors to the human desire to experience altered mental states.
Perlman is planning a larger study that will analyze hundreds of additional videos of nonhuman primates spinning. He has also started collecting evidence of other species, including grizzly bears and pandas, that appear to enjoy activities that may make them dizzy.
Marc Bekoff, an emeritus behavioral ecologist and cognitive ethologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who was not involved in the study, said researching such behavior was valuable “because there’s no a priori reason to think we’re the only animals who engage in behaviors that intentionally produce altered states of consciousness.” He added, “Systematic research will help us learn more about the taxonomy of getting high and not run around thinking we’re all that unique.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
