Alan Kellogg's 'Oliver' reference [Archive]

mythusmage

25th May 2003, 03:01 AM

My thanks. The article is a good general introduction to the fellow.

Does anybody have more up-to-date information on Oliver? The article itself is now about 4 years old.

For my part, I am of the opinion that a full gene (I just spaced the flippin term, dammit) Heck, call it a full read of his genes, much as was done for humans. That would settle a lot of questions for me.

For now I'll agree that Oliver is most likely a chimpanzee, but...

The explanation of the jaw sounds good, but has this sort of thing happened with other chimps? Oliver is not the only trog who's had his teeth pulled (usually for biting), have any of those others shown his course of jaw development.

Can habituation explain his preference for bipedal locomotion? Other chimps have been taught to walk bipedally for greater distances than they normally would, but they prefer to knucklewalk. Has Oliver been given a comprehensive physical? Including a full set of xrays and MRIs?

Last, and certainly not least, what about his attraction to human females? Other chimps have been around human females a lot, but have expressed little if any desire to mate with them. Then you have Oliver's preference for humans over fellow chimps. That last may be due to Oliver's condition vis a vis other chimpanzees, but can it explain his preference for humans as mating partners.

His mistreatment in the past, the removal of his teeth, and habit may explain his current condition, but I'd like to see if the alternatives have been given a good looking at.

Oliver, for all I know, could very well be a chimpanzee, but one exhibiting traits we once thought were peculiar to humans and other hominids. When you consider how closely related we now appear to be to Pan troglodytus, it should come as little surprise that every now and then certain specimens will exhibit human-like traits.

If anybody's heading off to the DRC (the old Zaire) for field work, could you keep an eye out for more bipedal chimps with small faces? More 'olivers' that is. Even if they are only a sub-species of trog it would still be a neat discovery.

Alan Kellogg