Reaction Paper: The Life of Mammals ( The Social Climbers & Food for Thought)

Cyrishlyn Aira E. Malubay
2013-18345
STS X2

Reaction Paper: The Life of Mammals ( The Social Climbers & Food for Thought)

The documentary about the social climbers, the monkeys, and food for thought gave me a lot of insights and new interesting facts about the life of mammals. I learned that monkeys have a unique way of going on with their lives, but still, they have many similarities with us. They are living in the forest, particularly in the tree-tops. The documentary showed the Capuchin, a special kind of monkey. These creatures were finding clams for their food, but they have a hard time opening it. They were usually using their hands to open it and they were also using the branches of the trees as a medium for cracking the clams. They also have a creative way for hygiene because they used to rub a special kind of plant to themselves as an insect repellant, for their protection against the biting animals. In South America, there were different types of monkeys which are living together in the same forest like the Saki, Spider Monkey, and Pygmy Marmoset. I also learned from the documentary that the mother monkeys are carrying their babies at their backs. For me, it was a great thing because I think, it is one way of showing their love for their child. Another amazing thing about monkeys is they were color blind but they are still able to pick the right kind of leaves for their food. Some leaves are poisonous and I could say they were really great because although they have no color vision, they can still adapt with their environment. They are indeed an outstanding kind of mammals. Some predators like to eat them especially the Eagles. Their unity and good communication skills with each other can be clearly seen during the situations when Eagles were attacking them. They have some spys to create signals telling that the enemies are already approaching towards them. It is nice to know that they are doing things for their security. They were also fighting to get a mate.

The second documentary featured the Apes, the animal that is closest to the humans. It
showed facts about the amazing brains of these creatures. In Borneo, the host of the documentary met an orangutan that can travel by using a boat since that monkey can row a boat properly. He showed the things and works that the monkey can imitate from people. Grooming for them is a hard thing since they used to eat in a slow manner. I learned that some of them are able to crack nuts and the way they were doing it is somehow funny for me. But still I admire their diligence. I think, they also have a great survival skills. According to the documentary, the ways of the apes in finding their food helped in the evolution of our brains. The size of the brain is related with our way of socializing. There were also apes which used only their two foot in standing upright.This instance showed that the humans somehow evolved from apes.

I find the documentary intesting because I got many facts which can help me, I believe, in the next years of my life. The smallest monkey, the Pygmy Marmoset is my favorite since it is really cute and looks like a bear, with a small blood from the owls. Unfortunately, I think some parts of it were boring and there were times that I nearly fell asleep during its viewing. But honestly, I enjoyed watching it and learning from it. The fact that we can only interact with strong bonds for a maximum of 150 people amazes me. From it, I realized that it's really hard to find a real friend. Before, I really don't like the idea of the evolution of humans from Apes because for me, it is quite insulting. But now, I am a little convinced that this idea has a legal basis and apes really possess things which are actually similar with the things we possess.