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Oliver (chimpanzee)

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Early media photograph of Oliver
Early media photograph of Oliver

Oliver (c. 1957 – 2 June 2012[1]) was a former "performing" ape once promoted as a missing link or "humanzee" due to his somewhat human-like appearance and a tendency to walk upright. Despite his somewhat unusual appearance and behavior, scientists found that Oliver was not a human-chimpanzee hybrid.[2]

Early life

Oliver was acquired as a young animal[3] in 1970 by trainers Frank and Janet Berger. Supposedly, the chimpanzee had been caught in the Congo.[1][3] Some physical and behavioral evidence led the Bergers to believe Oliver was a creature other than a chimpanzee, perhaps a human-chimpanzee hybrid. Oliver possessed a flatter face than his fellow chimpanzees; was in the habit of walking bipedally, rather than on his knuckles much more often than his chimpanzee peers (until he was later struck with arthritis); and may have preferred human females over chimpanzee females.[3] In a December 16, 2006 Discovery Channel special, Janet Berger stated that Oliver started to become attracted to her when he reached the age of 16.[4] She and her husband Frank Berger decided to sell Oliver to New York attorney Michael Miller.[5]

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Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as Congo-Kinshasa and formerly known as Zaire, is a country in Central Africa bordered to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean. By land area, the DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 112 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the nation's economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, and the Cabinda exclave of Angola.

Bipedalism

Bipedalism

Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where a tetrapod moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped, meaning 'two feet'. Types of bipedal movement include walking or running and hopping.

Arthritis

Arthritis

Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In some types of arthritis, other organs are also affected. Onset can be gradual or sudden.

Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. As of June 2012, Discovery Channel was the third most widely distributed subscription channel in the United States, behind now-sibling channel TBS and The Weather Channel; it is available in 409 million households worldwide, through its U.S. flagship channel and its various owned or licensed television channels internationally.

Enchanted Village and other facilities (1977–1989)

In 1977, Oliver's owner, Michael Miller, gave Oliver to Ralph Helfer, partner in a small theme park called Enchanted Village in Buena Park, California, built on the site of the defunct Japanese Village and Deer Park attraction. When Enchanted Village closed later that year, Helfer continued exhibiting Oliver in a new venture, Gentle Jungle, which changed locations a few times before finally closing in 1982. The Los Angeles Times did an extensive article about Oliver as a possible missing link or a new subspecies of chimpanzee. Oliver was transferred to the Wild Animal Training Center in Riverside, California, owned by Ken Decroo, but he was reportedly sold by Decroo in 1985. The last trainer to own Oliver was Bill Rivers. Rivers reported problems with Oliver kissing other monkeys.

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Ralph Helfer

Ralph Helfer

Ralph Helfer is an American animal behaviorist, creator of Marine World/Africa USA, and author of books about animals.

Buena Park, California

Buena Park, California

Buena Park is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, namely Knott's Berry Farm. It is about 12 miles (20 km) northwest of downtown Santa Ana, the county seat, and is within the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Japanese Village and Deer Park

Japanese Village and Deer Park

The Japanese Village and Deer Park is a defunct amusement park formerly located in Buena Park, California.

Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times, abbreviated as LA Times, is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States. The publication has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes. It is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by the Times Mirror Company. The newspaper's coverage has evolved more recently away from U.S. and international headlines and toward emphasizing California and especially Southern California stories.

Riverside, California

Riverside, California

Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire and in Riverside County, and is about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is also part of the Greater Los Angeles area. Riverside is the 61st-most-populous city in the United States and 12th-most-populous city in California. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 314,998. Along with San Bernardino, Riverside is a principal city in the nation's 13th-largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA); the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA ranks in population just below San Francisco (4,749,008) and above Detroit (4,392,041).

California

California

California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and it has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Buckshire Corporation (1989–1998)

Oliver was purchased in 1989 by the Buckshire Corporation, a Pennsylvania laboratory leasing out animals for scientific and cosmetic testing. His intake examination revealed some previous rough handling. He was never used in experiments, but for the next nine years, his home was a small cage, whose restricted size resulted in muscular atrophy to the point that Oliver's limbs trembled.[3] In 1996, Sharon Hursh, president of the Buckshire Corporation, after being petitioned by animal sanctuary Primarily Primates, allowed his retirement to Buckshire's colony of 13 chimpanzees.

Primarily Primates (1998–2012)

In 1998, Oliver was transferred to Primarily Primates, which was founded by Wallace Swett in 1978. Older, partially sighted[6] and arthritic, Oliver ended up at a spacious, open-air cage at Primarily Primates in Bexar County, Texas.[7]

In 2006, Oliver was placed in the temporary care of wildlife rehabilitator Lee Theisen-Watt, who had been court-appointed to oversee Primarily Primates while the state of Texas determined who would ultimately be in charge of the facility.

On April 27, 2007, the state of Texas entered into a settlement agreement which removed Lee Theisen-Watt as overseer of Primarily Primates and replaced her with a board of directors that was headed by Eric Turton and Priscilla Feral. The settlement also dismissed all charges against Primarily Primates. Wally Swett was required to leave the property and was prohibited from serving either on the board or as an employee in the future.[8]

Oliver remained in the care of Primarily Primates while the facility went through major renovations. Members of the re-formed board of directors expressed concern for Oliver in court proceedings and in news articles about the ongoing dispute over management of the sanctuary. Ethan Calamusa of the Star-Telegram reported that Friends of Animals was merging with Primarily Primates in order to restructure its management and address past concerns about the future of the sanctuary.[9] Oliver lived out the remainder of his life in the care of the restructured Primarily Primates sanctuary.

Death

Oliver spent his last years with another chimpanzee, a female known as Raisin. She was placed with Oliver for companionship since Oliver's advanced age and years in the research lab left him arthritic, mostly blind, and unable to interact daily with younger, more playful chimpanzees at the sanctuary.[5][10]

News of Oliver as well as photos were often posted online by his caregivers, owing to public interest. He took part in regular enrichment activities including a watermelon smashing party documented in the Friends of Animals online newsletter,[11] and even the chance to paint.[10] Although elderly, Oliver had access to the outdoors and lived the rest of his life in quiet retirement.[5]

Oliver died in his sleep and was found on June 2, 2012, with Raisin next to him; he was at least 55 years old.[10] Stephen René Tello, executive director of Primarily Primates, said that Oliver would be cremated and his ashes would be spread on the grounds of the sanctuary of the primates.[12]

Genetic testing

In 1996, while Oliver was still housed by the Buckshire Corporation, a geneticist from the University of Chicago tested portions of his DNA, and revealed that he had the 48 chromosomes of a normal chimpanzee, disproving an earlier claim that he had 47 (chimpanzees normally have 48 and humans normally have 46).[13] In a separate study, Oliver's cranial morphology, ear shape, freckles, and baldness were found to fall within the range of variability exhibited by the common chimpanzee.[14] Further genetic testing, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, found that Oliver's mitochondrial DNA closely matched that of the central chimpanzee subspecies, which lives in the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and other areas of Central Africa.[2]

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Geneticist

Geneticist

A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes or develop genetic technologies to aid in the pharmaceutical or and agriculture industries. Some geneticists perform experiments in model organisms such as Drosophila, C. elegans, zebrafish, rodents or humans and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of biological traits. A basic science geneticist is a scientist who usually has earned a PhD in genetics and undertakes research and/or lectures in the field. A medical geneticist is a physician who has been trained in medical genetics as a specialization and evaluates, diagnoses, and manages patients with hereditary conditions or congenital malformations; and provides genetic risk calculations and mutation analysis.

University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago. The university, established in 1890, has its main campus in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Admissions at the University of Chicago are considered highly selective.

Chromosome

Chromosome

A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are the histones. These proteins, aided by chaperone proteins, bind to and condense the DNA molecule to maintain its integrity. These chromosomes display a complex three-dimensional structure, which plays a significant role in transcriptional regulation.

Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is only a small portion of the DNA in a eukaryotic cell; most of the DNA can be found in the cell nucleus and, in plants and algae, also in plastids such as chloroplasts.

Central chimpanzee

Central chimpanzee

The central chimpanzee or the tschego is a subspecies of chimpanzee closely related to the other great apes such as gorillas, orangutans, and humans. The central chimpanzee can be found in Central Africa, mostly in Gabon, Cameroon, Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo

The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located on the western coast of Central Africa to the west of the Congo River. It is bordered to the west by Gabon, to its northwest by Cameroon and its northeast by the Central African Republic, to the southeast by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to its south by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda and to its southwest by the Atlantic Ocean.

Gabon

Gabon

Gabon, officially the Gabonese Republic, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo on the east and south, and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. It has an area of nearly 270,000 square kilometres (100,000 sq mi) and its population is estimated at 2.3 million people. There are coastal plains, mountains, and a savanna in the east.

Central Africa

Central Africa

Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Middle Africa is an analogous term used by the United Nations in its geoscheme for Africa and consists of the following countries: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe. These eleven countries are members of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Six of those countries are also members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and share a common currency, the Central African CFA franc.

Source: "Oliver (chimpanzee)", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 25th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_(chimpanzee).

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References
  1. ^ a b "Oliver the chimp dies at Texas refuge". azcentral.com. June 4, 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  2. ^ a b Ely JJ, Leland M, Martino M, Swett W, Moore CM (1998). "Technical note: chromosomal and mtDNA analysis of Oliver". Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 105 (3): 395–403. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199803)105:33.0.CO;2-Q. PMID 9545080.
  3. ^ a b c d Shuker, Karl (1999). "Oliver's No Gene Genie". Fortean Times. 120: 48–49. Archived from the original on January 27, 2006.
  4. ^ "The Human Chimp". YouTube.
  5. ^ a b c Shreeve, James (October 2003). "Oliver's Travels". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  6. ^ "Primarily Primates - The Story of Oliver". Primarily Primates. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  7. ^ "The Texas Monkey Project". Texas Monkey Project. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  8. ^ Cindy Tumiel (April 25, 2007). "Settlement looming for Primarily Primates". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  9. ^ William McCall (June 26, 2007). "Lawsuit filed in Oregon latest battle over Texas animal sanctuary". Star-Telegram – via primarilyprimates.org. Alt URL
  10. ^ a b c Casady, Michelle (June 4, 2012). "Oliver, chimpanzee with humanlike traits, dies". Houston Chronicle. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved March 4, 2015. This May 2012 photo provided by Primarily Primates shows a chimpanzee named Oliver painting
  11. ^ Chimpanzees, Awash in Watermelons! Primarily Primates Newsletter Online. April 2, 2008. Accessed August 20, 2012.
  12. ^ Oliver, famed chimpanzee, dies Archived 2012-06-10 at the Wayback Machine reprinted from the San Antonio Express-News June 2, 2012 and accessed via the Friends of Animals Website June 6.
  13. ^ Anonymous (1996). "'Mutant' Chimp Gets Gene Check". Science. 274 (5288): 727. doi:10.1126/science.274.5288.727e.
  14. ^ Hill, WCO; in Bourne, GH (1969). Anatomy, behavior, and diseases of chimpanzees (The Chimpanzee. Vol. 1. S. Karger. pp. 22–49.
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