Chimpanzee Rights

Chimpanzee Rights PDF Author: Kristin Andrews
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429865619
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
Since 2013, an organization called the Nonhuman Rights Project has brought before the New York State courts an unusual request—asking for habeas corpus hearings to determine whether Kiko and Tommy, two captive chimpanzees, should be considered legal persons with the fundamental right to bodily liberty. While the courts have agreed that chimpanzees share emotional, behavioural, and cognitive similarities with humans, they have denied that chimpanzees are persons on superficial and sometimes conflicting grounds. Consequently, Kiko and Tommy remain confined as legal "things" with no rights. The major moral and legal question remains unanswered: are chimpanzees mere "things", as the law currently sees them, or can they be "persons" possessing fundamental rights? In Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief, a group of renowned philosophers considers these questions. Carefully and clearly, they examine the four lines of reasoning the courts have used to deny chimpanzee personhood: species, contract, community, and capacities. None of these, they argue, merits disqualifying chimpanzees from personhood. The authors conclude that when judges face the choice between seeing Kiko and Tommy as things and seeing them as persons—the only options under current law—they should conclude that Kiko and Tommy are persons who should therefore be protected from unlawful confinement "in keeping with the best philosophical standards of rational judgment and ethical standards of justice." Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief—an extended version of the amicus brief submitted to the New York Court of Appeals in Kiko’s and Tommy’s cases—goes to the heart of fundamental issues concerning animal rights, personhood, and the question of human and nonhuman nature. It is essential reading for anyone interested in these issues.

Chimpanzee Rights

Chimpanzee Rights PDF Author: Kristin Andrews
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429865619
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
Since 2013, an organization called the Nonhuman Rights Project has brought before the New York State courts an unusual request—asking for habeas corpus hearings to determine whether Kiko and Tommy, two captive chimpanzees, should be considered legal persons with the fundamental right to bodily liberty. While the courts have agreed that chimpanzees share emotional, behavioural, and cognitive similarities with humans, they have denied that chimpanzees are persons on superficial and sometimes conflicting grounds. Consequently, Kiko and Tommy remain confined as legal "things" with no rights. The major moral and legal question remains unanswered: are chimpanzees mere "things", as the law currently sees them, or can they be "persons" possessing fundamental rights? In Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief, a group of renowned philosophers considers these questions. Carefully and clearly, they examine the four lines of reasoning the courts have used to deny chimpanzee personhood: species, contract, community, and capacities. None of these, they argue, merits disqualifying chimpanzees from personhood. The authors conclude that when judges face the choice between seeing Kiko and Tommy as things and seeing them as persons—the only options under current law—they should conclude that Kiko and Tommy are persons who should therefore be protected from unlawful confinement "in keeping with the best philosophical standards of rational judgment and ethical standards of justice." Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief—an extended version of the amicus brief submitted to the New York Court of Appeals in Kiko’s and Tommy’s cases—goes to the heart of fundamental issues concerning animal rights, personhood, and the question of human and nonhuman nature. It is essential reading for anyone interested in these issues.

What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee

What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee PDF Author: Jonathan Marks
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520240642
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Focusing on the remarkable similarity between chimp and human DNA, the author explores the role of molecular genetics, anthropology, biology, and psychology in the human-ape relationship.

Chimpanzees in Research

Chimpanzees in Research PDF Author: Committee on Long-Term Care of Chimpanzees
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309591155
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description
Chimpanzees in biomedical and behavioral research constitute a national resource that has been valuable in addressing national health needs. Facilities that house chimpanzees owned and supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have successfully met the research requirements of the scientific community. The captive chimpanzee population in the United States has grown substantially, particularly over the last decade. That growth is due primarily to the success of the NIH-sponsored Chimpanzee Breeding and Research Program, which achieved the birth numbers thought necessary to meet the projected needs of biomedical research. However, the expected level of use of the chimpanzee model in biomedical research did not materialize, and that has created a complex problem that threatens both the availability of chimpanzees for research in the future and the infrastructure required to ensure the well-being of captive chimpanzees used in biomedical research. Because the present system is fragmented, it is impossible to formulate an accurate overview of the size and nature of the chimpanzee population. But, if the chimpanzee is to continue to be used in biomedical research responsibly, effectively, and cost-effectively, we must be able to oversee, track, and coordinate the maintenance and use of chimpanzees and to control the size of the population. To assess the long-range situation and to develop, implement, and monitor the application of policies for the proper use and care of chimpanzees, an authoritative, centralized oversight structure is imperative. Once it is in place, it will be possible to refine and implement this report's recommendations.

Rattling The Cage

Rattling The Cage PDF Author: Steven M. Wise
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
ISBN: 0306824000
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Rattling the Cage explains how the failure to recognize the basic legal rights of chimpanzees and bonobos in light of modern scientific findings creates a glaring contradiction in our law. In this witty, moving, persuasive, and impeccably researched argument, Wise demonstrates that the cognitive, emotional, and social capacities of these apes entitle them to freedom from imprisonment and abuse.

The Chimpanzee Family Book

The Chimpanzee Family Book PDF Author: Jane Goodall
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
ISBN:
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
British naturalist Jane Goodall provides an intimate portrait of a group of chimpanzees in the jungles of Africa which she has studied for many years.

The Mind of the Chimpanzee

The Mind of the Chimpanzee PDF Author: Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226492818
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Understanding the chimpanzee mind is akin to opening a window onto human consciousness. Many of our complex cognitive processes have origins that can be seen in the way that chimpanzees think, learn, and behave. The Mind of the Chimpanzee brings together scores of prominent scientists from around the world to share the most recent research into what goes on inside the mind of our closest living relative. Intertwining a range of topics—including imitation, tool use, face recognition, culture, cooperation, and reconciliation—with critical commentaries on conservation and welfare, the collection aims to understand how chimpanzees learn, think, and feel, so that researchers can not only gain insight into the origins of human cognition, but also crystallize collective efforts to protect wild chimpanzee populations and ensure appropriate care in captive settings. With a breadth of material on cognition and culture from the lab and the field, The Mind of the Chimpanzee is a first-rate synthesis of contemporary studies of these fascinating mammals that will appeal to all those interested in animal minds and what we can learn from them.

Chimpanzee Politics

Chimpanzee Politics PDF Author: Frans B. M. Waal
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780801838330
Category : Chimpanzees
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
"Precise but eminently readable and indeed exciting... This excellent book achieves the dual goal which eludes so many writers about animal behavior -- it will both fascinate the non-specialist and be seen as an important contribution to science." -- Times Literary Supplement

Chimpanzee Material Culture

Chimpanzee Material Culture PDF Author: William C. McGrew
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521423717
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The implications of tool-use behaviour in chimpanzees for reconstructing the evolutionary origins of human culture are discussed in this book.

Not a Chimp

Not a Chimp PDF Author: Jeremy Taylor
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191613584
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
Humans are primates, and our closest relatives are the other African apes - chimpanzees closest of all. With the mapping of the human genome, and that of the chimp, a direct comparison of the differences between the two, letter by letter along the billions of As, Gs, Cs, and Ts of the DNA code, has led to the widely vaunted claim that we differ from chimps by a mere 1.6% of our genetic code. A mere hair's breadth genetically! To a rather older tradition of anthropomorphizing chimps, trying to get them to speak, dressing them up for 'tea parties', was added the stamp of genetic confirmation. It also began an international race to find that handful of genes that make up the difference - the genes that make us uniquely human. But what does that 1.6% really mean? And should it really lead us to consider extending limited human rights to chimps, as some have suggested? Are we, after all, just chimps with a few genetic tweaks? Is our language and our technology just an extension of the grunts and ant-collecting sticks of chimps? In this book, Jeremy Taylor sketches the picture that is emerging from cutting edge research in genetics, animal behaviour, and other fields. The indications are that the so-called 1.6% is much larger and leads to profound differences between the two species. We shared a common ancestor with chimps some 6-7 million years ago, but we humans have been racing away ever since. One in ten of our genes, says Taylor, has undergone evolution in the past 40,000 years! Some of the changes that happened since we split from chimpanzees are to genes that control the way whole orchestras of other genes are switched on and off, and where. Taylor shows, using studies of certain genes now associated with speech and with brain development and activity, that the story looks to be much more complicated than we first thought. This rapidly changing and exciting field has recently discovered a host of genetic mechanisms that make us different from other apes. As Taylor points out, for too long we have let our sentimentality for chimps get in the way of our understanding. Chimps use tools, but so do crows. Certainly chimps are our closest genetic relatives. But relatively small differences in genetic code can lead to profound differences in cognition and behaviour. Our abilities give us the responsibility to protect and preserve the natural world, including endangered primates. But for the purposes of human society and human concepts such as rights, let's not pretend that chimps are humans uneducated and undressed. We've changed a lot in those 12 million years.

Chimpanzee Behavior in the Wild

Chimpanzee Behavior in the Wild PDF Author: Toshisada Nishida
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 443153895X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Where We Stand Field workers—scientists of animal (including human!) behavior in nature—have long been fascinated by wild chimpanzees. A person who once has studied wild chimpanzees will be eager to observe them again. A person who has studied them twice will make every effort to continue the study, unless prevented from doing so. In short, behavioral primatology is addictive! Many people, among them Jane Goodall, Richard Wrangham, and I, do not regret that they have dedicated their whole lives to the study of wild chimpanzees. This is because the apes’ behavior is always challenging: chimpanzees are cheerful, charming, playful, curious, beautiful, easygoing, generous, tolerant, and trustw- thy most of the time, but also are cautious, cunning, ugly, violent, ferocious, blo- thirsty, greedy, and disloyal at other times. We human beings share both the light and dark sides with our closest living relatives. For decades, we have documented huge across-population variation in behavior, as well as within-population variation. Cultural biology (now called cultural pri- tology), as proposed 60 years ago by Kinji Imanishi, recently has flourished.