Some Chimps Are Putting Grass in Their Ears (2014) | Hacker News Reader

Some Chimps Are Putting Grass in Their Ears (2014)

smithsonianmag.com

61 pointssuprgeek26 comments

When I was at university, I was told a story that some of the chimps that were kept in the primate house at the school started popping the collars on their shirts after they saw humans doing the same thing.

And yes, the chimps had clothes, and toys.

I can't upvote this joke enough!

I think puranjay interpreted the snippet as a joke referring to college students in fraternity as the "primates in a primate house".

It's not a joke. This is a thing that happened.

"primate house at the school" hmmm....

The Orcas in Puget sound do something similar with kelp, draped across their dorsal fin. Helpfully enough, it's called 'kelping'. There doesn't seem to be a point, other than style.

So? Some Orcas are fabulous, get used to it.

I immediately thought they may be copying humans who seem to all have these white things trailing from their ears...

Did a doctor check the ears. Perhaps it is a contagious ear infection and the straw is a primitive replacement for a surgical drain to remove the pus.

Or they were just trying to fool the behavioral biologists.

Some monkeys are also flossing their teeth and teaching it to their children. Smart animals.

http://www.allaboutwildlife.com/2009-10/monkeys-teach-their-...

In-ear grass is so 2014. But still beats AirPods

well not surprising, I mean try explaining to any organisms studying humans as to why we(humans) take so many selfies....for no particular reason....

I use qtips in my ear canal (even though i shouldnt) because it feels awesome.

Maybe the chimps get a similar feeling?

> because it feels awesome

OK. Is this a studied phenomenon? It just feels normal to me, but my girlfriend is having much stronger reactions to it, like she's pleasuring herself. It's weird. (She has playfully used the term "ear orgasm"). Maybe there's a bundle of nerve ending beneath there.

On my side if I touch a specific spot in the left ear it makes me cough for some reason.

I've got the same ear cough phenomenon. It's like my brain lost track of where it left all it's nerves, and when it gets a signal from one it lost track of it just does it's best. For some reason it's decided ear ~= throat.

Go to a hospital and find an ENT ward. Ear, nose and throat, very interconnected. Otorhinolaryngology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otorhinolaryngology

The traditional term is "eargasm".

This an actual thing?

It sure is. Back years ago, when 512Kbps DSL was fancy new, I had a roommate who'd go on at length about it, and that was the word he used.

I thought "eargasm" was meant for particularly pleasing sounds or music. Although certainly there could be more than one way to attain "eargasm" :-)

This is my hypothesis.

> (even though i shouldnt)

It seems weirdly taboo.

Using qtips for this purpose is supposed to be off label I've heard. Yet the trade goes on.

The better the selfie, the better mate you can attract.

Selfies are good at communicating emotion and context. It's a lot easier than trying to write down where you are, what's happening, and how you feel about it.

Some chimps are putting grass on top of their head and paint their face orange.

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