Diario de milewski

@baal_baal_blacksheep

INTRODUCTION

A basic aspect of the natural history of the human species (Homo sapiens, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/43584-Homo-sapiens) is that, in order to think clearly about something, we need a name for it.

Where a name is lacking for something important, it behooves us to invent an apt new term as soon as possible.

With this term in place, a conceptual search-image can arise, and there can be an appropriate boost in consciousness.

THE PROBLEM IN QUESTION

The human species uses resources on such a large scale that economies of resource-use are crucial for an understanding of the niche of our species.

However, humans differ from other animals in that our adaptations involve upgrades of software (i.e. psychological programming), rather than hardware (i.e. the genetic code).

Therefore, social psychology is a crucial factor in human ecology.

An important concern today is sustainable utilisation of energy and materials. This requires increases in both efficiency and recycling.

What has emerged in the last century is that attempts to conserve and manage resources tend to be frustrated by counterintuitive and perverse phenomena of human psychology. These phenomena operate at a subconscious level.

In the realm of efficiency, the term 'Jevons paradox' was introduced in 1865 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox and https://www.perplexity.ai/search/when-was-the-term-jevon-s-para-AQxNF0I4RL60RobmgM2r5g). It is paradoxical that, the more efficient we become in industrial processes, the more we boost the rate of these processes, frustrating any aspirations to reduce the effects of industry on the environment.

However, until now there has been no term for a related effect, which has proved to be important in recycling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling).

The effect in question is that, the more that we think that a given resource is being recycled, the more we boost the use of the resource, so that there is no overall reduction in the rate of consumption.

I have noticed this effect particularly in municipal recycling schemes for paper, plastic, and glass, in which a special rubbish-bin, with a lid of distinctive colour, is collected for disposal on a weekly/biweekly basis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_in_Australia).

The contents of such bins, carefully sorted from other categories of garbage by householders, ostensibly go to recycling facilities, instead of landfill (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill). The goal is to save resources and to reduce wastage.

What actually happens, in contrast to expectations, is what I have dubbed THE INDULGENT ALLAYMENT EFFECT.

A NEW TERM FOR THE LEXICON OF ENVIRONMENTALISM

In 'the indulgent allayment effect', consumers take psychological comfort from the instantiation of ostensibly economical practices, thus subconsciously relaxing their thriftiness. They purchase and discard the material in question more liberally/carelessly.

In the case of householders:
The result is that any savings achieved by recycling tend to be balanced by a correspondingly more wasteful practice. The latter tends to cancel out the former.

I suggest that, with the indulgent allayment effect in mind, we will spot this phenomenon of compensation - in conjunction with the related Jevons paradox - in various realms of modern living.

@jeremygilmore @ludwig_muller @christiaan_viljoen

The sociopsychological nature of modern Homo sapiens is such that it is possible to get whole populations to accept untruths so gross that they defy both logic and evidence.

The falsity of the propositions in question should be obvious with even cursory scrutiny, but the population seems oblivious to the deception.

This form of brainwashing, on the part of governments in coalition with media and corporations, is overwhelmingly important in shaping developments in the modern world.

Deception on this scale is particularly noteworthy, given that

• our species tends to consider itself 'thinking/rational/reasonable', as implied by our specific epithet 'sapiens' (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sapient), and
• we live in an intensely technical time, in which our 'technology' tends (incorrectly) to be equated in the public mind with scientific rigour.

The following are the main forms of propaganda to which I refer:

• messages that are outright self-contradictory,
• repeated denials of what should be obvious to all,
• repeated assertions of what is plainly untrue, including the phenomenon of political hoaxing,
• arbitrary inversions of morality/legality, e.g. it is a sin to kill another person in a civilian context, but likewise a sin to refuse to kill another person who is deemed to qualify as a military enemy, and
• political parties acting in obviously illegal/unethical/corrupt ways while shrilly accusing the opposing parties of what they themselves are doing.

However, until now we have lacked satisfactory terms for this multifacetted activity of perverse persuasion.

In the last few years, the terms 'to gaslight' and its participle/gerund 'gaslighting' have arisen for a related phenomenon at the smaller scale of relationships in the family and within small groups of individuals (https://theabigailproject.org/what-is-gaslighting/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzby1BhCQARIsAJ_0t5Ofi3GHTC2wndSEbvxF44nIW9iZinpxqoMdU3-g6CUq832YYJKfaNEaAlSSEALw_wcB and https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaslighting).

However, 'to gaslight/gaslighting' cannot satisfactorily be applied to both the demographic/political scale and the interpersonal scale. Furthermore, they suffer from the drawbacks that they

• are makeshift/stopgap words serving as placeholders for a satisfactory term,
• lack etymological validity, with cultural origins that are obscure/idiosyncratic, and
• are ambiguous (because it is possible literally to illuminate someone by means of combustion of certain gases).

The following terms are also unsatisfactory:

• 'psyop' (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psyops) is a noun, is awkward to spell, and lacks a verbal form, and
• 'brainwash' and 'brainwashing', although certainly related, are both too vague and too metaphorical.

So, here is a new idea.

The word 'ment' is simple to spell and to pronounce, but by accident has never been recruited into the English language. It seems ready-made as an apt candidate for a new term.

Furthermore, 'ment' happens to possess an etymological pedigree, because it is

• congruent with the Latin root for 'to lie', as seen in the English word 'mendacious (https://www.etymonline.com/word/mendacious and https://www.oed.com/dictionary/mendacious_adj) and the Spanish verb 'mentir' (https://www.200words-a-day.com/spanish-verb-mentir.html#:~:text=Spanish%20Verb%20MENTIR%3A%20to%20lie), and
• appropriately reminiscent of the Latin root 'mens' (genitive: 'mentis'), meaning 'mind' (https://www.etymonline.com/word/mental) and perpetuated in English as e.g. 'mental', 'mentality', and 'demented'.

(Also please see https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/97482-introducing-the-new-verb-to-ment-for-an-important-phenomenon-in-the-natural-history-of-the-modern-human-species#activity_comment_220dd22a-ca29-47a8-8cec-ad8caf9a7d36.)

As in the case of the long-standing terms 'to brainwash/brainwashing', the new terms 'to ment' and 'menting' require an object, as part of the correct syntax.

Thus, they would be used as follows:

• 'The authorities continued to ment the population until hundreds of millions of voters accepted the counterintuitive premises.'
• 'We live in what is ostensibly an age of scientific objectivity rather than primitive superstition; however, in reality people even in the best-educated societies remain susceptible to menting that blatantly defies notions of reason and evidence.'

More particularly, the following would exemplify correct usage:

• 'I realise that we are being mented on this issue',
• 'please, government, stop menting us about the national debt!',
• 'the menting under this administration has reached new levels',
• 'throughout the history of civilisation, menting the population has successfully served the rulers', and
• 'in recent times, menting has become overused to the degree that some sectors of the population have woken up to it.'

The following would exemplify incorrect usage:

• 'please, John, do not ment me' (too small-scale),
• 'propaganda is synonymous with menting' (confusion of definitions),
• 'all brainwashing is equivalent/tantamount to menting' (confusion of definitions), and
• 'I noticed that the intelligence agencies were menting' (the verb requires an object in this syntax).

It is essential to the concept of menting that the message in question can be seen to be categorically false, inherently nonsensical, or axiomatically absurd (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absurd) if one stands back far enough to evaluate it in proper perspective.

Therefore, I suggest that the following forms of persuasion do not qualify as menting:

• mass-advertising in which the main messages are merely biased/hyperbolic, rather than logic-defying, blatantly untrue, or self-contradictory, and
• any programming of public opinion targeted exclusively at scales below one million persons, e.g. at the level of most municipalities.

Suids (Suidae, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suidae) are unusual among Artiodactyla, in their potential for rapid reproduction.

This is based mainly on the number of offspring per birth.

Focussing on spp. in Africa, the values for number of offspring per birth are, for example,

• 2-4, and up to 8, in the common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_warthog), and
• 1-4, and up to 6, in the bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Potamochoerus_larvatus/).

What does this mean for our understanding of life-history strategies?

Given their potential for rapid reproduction, it seems reasonable to expect that suids have a reduced lifespan (https://www.perplexity.ai/search/in-biology-what-is-the-differe-x7AAtz0GQh69JN8KOMvhKw).

To test this idea, I compared suids and bovids (Bovidae, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae) with respect to lifespan, based on Haltenorth and Diller (1986, https://books.google.com.au/books/about/A_Field_Guide_to_the_Mammals_of_Africa_I.html?id=svxGAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y and https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1491209).

I chose spp. with adult body mass about 80 kg, for comparability to those spp. of suids indigenous to Africa.

There are nine spp. of bovids in Africa with this body mass. The lifespan is mean about 16 years, range 10-24 years.

In those suids indigenous to Africa, lifespans are

• common warthog: 18 years,
• bushpig: 12-15 years, and
• wild boar (Sus scrofa): 15-20 years.

These data can be summarised, in the case of the suids, as about 16 years, which is similar to the value for bovids.

I tentatively conclude that there is no difference in lifespan between suids and bovids in Africa, despite a great difference in fecundity. This suggests that the fecundity of suids - together with formidable canine teeth - is basically a compensation for relative vulnerability to predation, owing to e.g.

• proportionately short legs,
• diurnal foraging in the case of warthogs, and
• noisiness while foraging in the case of bushpigs and the wild boar.

@christiaan_viljoen @tonyrebelo @jeremygilmore @davidbygott @dejong @paradoxornithidae @botswanabugs @nyoni-pete @wynand_uys @variani18

Also see https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/82576-notes-on-the-common-hippopotamus-hippopotamus-amphibius-from-haller-park-mombasa-kenya#

Kenneth L. Tinley, now 88 years old (https://gorongosa.org/montane-to-mangrove/ and https://www.perplexity.ai/search/when-was-ken-l-tinley-the-ecol-LLDEAfWMTV2UFV3vAeOA0A and https://gorongosa.org/montane-to-mangrove/) was, during the 'seventies, perhaps the best-known wildlife ecologist in South Africa.

Tidying up my library today, I came across an obscure article he published at the start of his tertiary education.

Tinley, although a mere first-year student at the University of Natal at the time, wrote:
Tinley K L (1961) 'Hippos' Nucleon 3: 39-42 (journal of the University of Natal Science Society).

The information in this always-obscure, now-forgotten, article remains of interest today, because it was based on Tinley's field experience as a game ranger in what is now northern KwaZulu-Natal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maputaland) during the several years after he completed his secondary education (high school).

In this Post, I quote selectively from Tinley (1961) for the sake of posterity. I have chosen these quotes on the basis that his interpretations remain relevant to this day, despite many detailed field-studies of the common hippopotamus by other authors subsequently, in various parts of Africa.

"If a sleeping herd is disturbed, one or more of the animals will yawn widely, often rearing up and falling backwards or sideways into the water. From one animal yawning, most of the other members of the herd follow suit, leaving the observer (often yawning himself) impressed with the large dentition of the older members. Yawning is especially noticeable in the late afternoon just before the herd moves out onto the land to graze."

"Although grass makes up the bulk of their diet, some aquatic plants, including a few sedge species and the tubers of water lilies (Nymphaea spp.) are also eaten. It is not known whether the hippo obtains these tubers by grubbing them out with the two forward projecting incisors, or whether it paws them out with its front feet. They usually return to the surface to chew the gathered mouthful of tubers."

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=13313&taxon_id=51122&view=species and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=13313&taxon_id=321501 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=13313&taxon_id=165755

"Both large and very small grasses are eaten; they can often be observed grazing the flat-tufted or creeping lawn grasses which grow in abundance at the margins of their aquatic habitat. Grass blades as small as 4 cm are readily cropped, and with some of the larger broad leaved varieties, only the tips are taken."

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1044603814-close-hippo-grazing and https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-3476771257-close-head-wild-afrcian-hippopotamus-grazing-grasslands and https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-3476782029-close-head-wild-afrcian-hippopotamus-grazing-grasslands and https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-3476773255-full-body-close-hippopotamus-grazing-great-egret and https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-3475059649-beautiful-wild-hippo-hippopotamus-amphibius-grazing-chobe

"...there is a calloused ridge on the upper lip, slightly serrated in parts. When grazing, the lower lip is closed against the calloused pad of the upper, and the head nodded downwards, thus nipping off the tips of the short grasses or stems of the larger types; the efficiency of this method is facilitated by the large lips enclosing the teeth. Presumably the tongue is used to convey the food back into the mouth, as it is frequently seen projecting just beyond the lips while the animal is chewing."

https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/item/61258033-close-hippos-open-mouth-and-teeth and https://es.123rf.com/photo_87765253_close-up-image-of-hippo-s-mouth.html

"Fighting [between rival males] usually begins in the water, but often during the course of the fight they will move out on to the land, usually due to the attempt of one of the bulls to retreat from his adversary, who will usually give chase. As often as not the bulls fight till [sic] one is killed, but if the loser is a young bull it may hurriedly retire to some remote haunt to recuperate till [sic] strong enough to tackle a herd bull again. At the scene of the battle large areas will be found flattened and torn up, with blood spattered everywhere, to chest height against the trees and bushes. Most fights occur at night and only the preliminary stages of these battles have been witnessed. The two bulls face one another uttering a deep low rumbling bellow, and every now and then raise their posterior end and patter the water loudly by succeasive sideways movements of the short flattened tail. (This tail movement is usually but not always made when defaecating.) When attacking, the mouth is kept wide open and powerful forward upward thrusts of the lower jaw are executed bringing into play the two large forward projecting tusk-like incisors. Deaths in fighting usually occur as a result of the smashing of the ribs just behind the scapular [sic] from upward lunging blows of the incisors and lower Jaws. The sharp curved canines inflict enormous gaping wounds up to a foot in diameter, or long deep gashes. Throughout the fight there is a tremendous uproar due to the bellowing, roaring and screaming of the opponents."

"The cow hippo leaves the water...and gives birth in sheltered bush not far from the water. If the calf is a female it is soon brought back to the herd, but if a male is born the mother and calf remain in seclusion or move further away from the herd. For if mature bulls...find bull calves they kill them immediately. This seemingly paradoxical 'survival factor' probably operates to ensure that not too many bulls come to maturity, thus preventing too much competition...If crocodiles have not consumed the remains, dead butchered remains of small bull calves may often be found, or careful observation will enable the observer to locate the mother and calf hiding in some unfrequented sector."

"When lying down the animal lowers the front half of the body first in the same manner as the cow, but in getting up they raise the front first in the same manner as the horse...Hippo are able to swim on the surface of the water...When swimming at speed in deep water the hind limbs are trailed out immobile behind them, and the swimming is done by 'walking-paddling motions' of the powerful fore limbs...Hippo calves often stand on their mother's backs when the latter are resting. In these situations they are persistently bothered by biting flies (Tabanus spp....) which settle, generally on the head, to suck blood. The bite irritates the hippo, but by moving their ears in a peculiar quick circular movement they throw up a spray of water which repels the insects...In winter hippo often lie out asleep on the shore, probably because the water is too cold, the solar radiation less than in summer, and because there are no biting flies."

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=13313&taxon_id=49704&view=species and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=13313&taxon_id=47821&view=species

MY COMMENTARY

I am surprised that Tinley experienced the yawning of the common hippopotamus as personally contagious. My reason is that this is a 'fang-baring' expression,

• analogous to that in baboons (Papio spp., https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/87037/view/hamadryas-baboon-papio-hamadryas- and https://www.alamy.com/hamadryas-baboon-papio-hamadryas-male-with-open-mouth-defensive-posture-image387705595.html and https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/photo/tusk-royalty-free-image/1149804234?phrase=baboon+fangs&adppopup=true), and
• signifying warning, not relaxation.

The difference in 'fang-baring' between baboons and the common hippopotamus is that in the former it is restricted to adult males, whereas in the latter it is performed by both sexes and juveniles as well as adults.

The diet of the common hippopotamus in Maputaland has subsequently been studied in great detail (https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA03794369_3154).

The possibility that the common hippopotamus excavates tubers with its lower incisors is important w.r.t. the overall foraging niche of the species. It is remarkable that Tinley's suggestion has not been confirmed, or proven incorrect, in the elapsed 65 years (https://www.perplexity.ai/search/has-hippopotamjs-amphibius-bee-0G7uksfIS0C3lI1P5c0Mmw).

A related point:
I have not seen confirmation that males use the lower incisors to smash the rib-cage of rivals.

The question of the various functions of the lower incisors of the common hippopotamus remains important, because

• these ever-growing teeth peculiar and not particularly sexually dimorphic, and
• geophagy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophagia) is nutritionally important in large herbivores.

Laws (1968, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/DENTITION-AND-AGEING-OF-THE-HIPPOPOTAMUS-Laws/fb59f56b17cd2d5afbb472621de5b643617e7309 and https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2028.1968.tb00899.x and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229967272_Dentition_and_ageing_of_the_hippo) states: "canines and incisors...the former being used exclusively for fighting and the latter for digging and possibly for fighting. The wear pattern suggests that the incisors are used for digging, and observations at localities where there are natural mineral deposits have shown that hippopotamus do use the incisors for mining earth in these places."

The following show the protruding tongue:
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/photo/hippopotamus-sticking-tongue-out-royalty-free-image/522653264?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/photo/hippopotamus-with-tongue-out-royalty-free-image/154566768?adppopup=true.

Infanticide by mature males has been confirmed since Tinley's time (https://africageographic.com/stories/graphic-video-hippo-commits-infanticide/ and https://www.facebook.com/WildlifePhotographerOfTheYear/photos/warning-you-may-find-this-image-distressing-in-this-dramatic-and-disturbing-imag/2385639291490106/ and https://www.facebook.com/WildlifePhotographerOfTheYear/posts/infanticide-among-hippos-is-rare-but-not-unknownwpyalumni-adrian-hirschi-capture/601852557964472/ and https://www.facebook.com/Jackalexpeditionsptyltd/posts/infanticide-among-hippos-is-rare-but-not-unknownwpyalumni-adrian-hirschi-capture/1393395267835118/), e.g. in the reintroduced population at Rondevlei near Cape Town (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rondevlei_Nature_Reserve and https://allafrica.com/stories/200312120631.html and https://www.iol.co.za/technology/hip-hipporay-for-brutuss-new-vlei-nymphs-118686 and https://allafrica.com/stories/200312160576.html).

However, the routine targeting of male infants remains remarkable and paradoxical.

I have before me a press-clipping from S A Independent newspaper (which is defunct), dated 10 August 1999 (25 years ago). It is titled "Brutus the killer hippo".

It reads "Brutus has killed nine of his 15 offspring in the past nine years. And it appears he's responsible for the recent death of his partner, Portia, and her two-week old baby. Brutus, the only male hippo at Rondevlei Bird Sanctuary, was imported from KwaZulu-Natal many years ago...Dean Ferreira (https://za.linkedin.com/in/dean-ferreira-8191813a), in charge of nature conservation for the South Peninsula municipality, says...only three of 15 hippos born at Rondevlei over the years have survived. Two were sold to other reserves, and there is a (presumably somewhat nervous) 18-month-old still at Rondevlei. Nine have been gouged to death. Said Ferreira: 'We didn't even know a new calf had been born until we found it dead with the adult female last week. There were teeth marks on the adult. We think that the baby died because its mother had died.' "

Tinley went on to publish, in 1964, a peer-reviewed paper on tabanid flies and their relationships to the common hippopotamus:
https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3032.1964.tb00789.x and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230313480_Some_observations_on_certain_tabanid_flies_in_North-Eastern_Zululand_Diptera_Tabanidae

...continued from https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/96927-is-the-common-hippopotamus-hippopotamus-amphibius-analogous-with-orangutans-pongo-spp-in-sexual-bimaturism-part-1#

Sexual dimorphism in the common hippopotamus is complicated and subtle. This is because of the following combination:

• the lower canine teeth are absolutely much larger in males (even when still 'arrested/suppressed' in development) than in females,
• this is an insufficient clue to sex in the field, because the mandible (lower jaw) also differs in size between the sexes, which means that the relative sizes of the lower canines remain similar (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102547968), and
• the absolute size of the lower canines is probably greater again in territory-holding (physically fully-developed) males (https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/photo/close-up-of-hippopotamus-eating-royalty-free-image/948309904?adppopup=true), but this has yet to be measured and is a 'blind spot' in the literature.

The aim of this, part 2, is to describe precisely the difference in the size of the lower canines and mandibles in females vs males (excluding the few males that have succeeded in becoming territorial).

The following is a good reference for the ontogeny (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontogeny) of sexual dimorphism in the lower canines of the common hippopotamus.

Pienaar et al. (1966, https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/778/0 and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47296377_An_experimental_cropping_scheme_of_Hippopotami_in_the_Letaba_river_of_the_Kruger_National_Park and https://knowledge.caribencana.id/detail/eyJpdiI6Img1NEJpTTFvUVZNck1JeDJtTlo5MlE9PSIsInZhbHVlIjoiZkptaXpvNVUrQW1HTTlVVjNXR0VGQT09IiwibWFjIjoiMjdiOTU0MTlkOTVmNWM2Y2Q1ODc2NmZiMDhiZjlhM2MzODAwYWNmNWM5NTk4ZDcyYzc0NWQ4NjE3ZTFiNDU1OSJ9) state:

"The lower canines are cut at about four months and attain a length of about 2.5-3.8 cm during the following twelve months. At two years these canines measure about 6.35 cm in females and from [sic] 10.2-11.4 cm in males. At three years they are about 10.2-11.4 cm in females and 12.7-14 cm in males."

Page 29:

Length of lower canines in adult males (n=32) ranged from 12.7 cm to 31 cm. Within this sample (which seems not to include any territorial individuals), asymptotic length (23-31 cm) of the lower canines is reached when male body mass reaches 1400 kg.

Page 30:

Length of lower canines in adult females (n=36) ranged from 7.6 cm to 20.3 cm, and most values are 12.7-16.5 cm. Within this sample, asymptotic length (about 15 cm) of the lower canines is reached when body mass reaches 1130 kg.

My commentary:

Even in those male individuals (by far the majority of the male population) that have not expressed the full masculine growth, the lower canines are absolutely far longer (about 27 cm) than those of females (about 15 cm).

However, this hardly helps with the sexing of the animals in the field. This is because the lower jaw of males is also larger in males than in females.

I scrutinised the data in order to compare the length of the lower canines in the largest individuals, among female adults, which happen to that have similar body mass to relatively small individuals among adult males.

I found the values to be about 15 cm in females and about 24 cm in males. This is certainly sexually dimorphic. However, it is not dimorphic enough, overall, to make the sex of most adults distinguishable in the field.

The following is another relevant reference.

Laws (1968, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229967272_Dentition_and_ageing_of_the_hippo and https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2028.1968.tb00899.x and https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/DENTITION-AND-AGEING-OF-THE-HIPPOPOTAMUS-Laws/fb59f56b17cd2d5afbb472621de5b643617e7309) studied the teeth and mandibles of the common hippopotamus in great detail, relative to age from birth to 45 years old.

Laws (1968) found the following.

Mass of lower canine teeth (sample sizes: females n=82, males n=77):

Page 38:
"In the male growth is rectilinear up to about 25 years (corresponding to a mean weight of 2.0-2.1 kg), but subsequently declines, probably due to breakage and wear, so that the mean weight falls slightly. In the female the growth rate appears to be similar to the male growth rate up to about three years, but is thereafter slower. It has an approximately rectilinear pattern up to an age of about 20-25 years (corresponding to a mean weight of 1-1.2 kg), later levelling off between 1.1 and 1.2 kg. Thus, if age is taken into account, the female canines at full maturity are slightly less than half the weight of the male canines."

The difference between females and males in the size of the canines and incisors does not appear until about 8 years old.

Mass of the mandible (sample sizes: females n=87, males n=85):

Pages 36-37:
"There is a very obvious sex difference in jaw growth and size. Up to...seven years...growth is similar in the two sexes, but the female growth rate declines while the male mandible continues to increase at a steady rate up to about 25 years. In both sexes there is a decline in mandible weight after 25 years. In the male this results in a decrease in weight of some 5 kg from 25 to 40 years, whereas in the female the corresponding decrease is much smaller - about 0.8 kg. The male weight change represents a decrease of 33 per cent., the female only 8.5 per cent. This decrease in the male is not due solely to breakage and wear of teeth - the combined effect of this would not exceed 2.5 kg...and it is necessary to assume that there is a considerable resorption of bone at these higher ages, at least in the male."

Figure 10, on page 36, shows that, at about 30 years old, the mass of the mandible in (non-territorial) males is nearly double that in females.

Growth in length of the mandible (sample sizes: females n=87, males n=83):

Page 37:
"Although the male jaw lengths at age are slightly higher than the female values at ages above...11 years...there is a considerable amount of overlap."

By 40 years old, the mandible has begun to shrink in length, and "jaw feels very light for its size owing to resorption of bone, particularly in the male'. By 43 years old, 'roots of [molar] teeth reduced by resorption to small stumps."

My commentary:

The data in Laws (1968) suggest to me that

• males can live their whole, long lives without fully expressing the secondary sexual potential of the mandible - including the lower canines - in mass and length, and
• this 'suppressed/arrested' state applies to most male individuals in the population.

It seems that Laws (1968), like most other authors, lacked any search image for 'sexual bimaturism' in the common hippopotamus. His otherwise thorough study thus missed any true representation of a crucial component of the population, viz. territory-holding males.

The following illustrate the sizes of the lower canine teeth in the common hippopotamus:

Adult female
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/photo/close-up-of-crocodile-on-field-royalty-free-image/1584114188?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/photo/hippopotamus-yawning-royalty-free-image/84304415?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/photo/hippo-with-open-mouth-royalty-free-image/522198598?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/regular-visitor-to-london-zoo-captain-pfeiffer-placing-his-news-photo/2635009?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/photo/wild-bull-hippo-breaching-in-south-africa-royalty-free-image/1464135240?adppopup=true
https://www.alamy.com/hippo-showing-its-teeth-hippopotamus-amphibius-image7445976.html
Adolescent female
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/hippopotamus-tetsuo-opens-his-mouth-to-let-his-teeth-news-photo/475393128?adppopup=true

Adult male
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/hippopotamus-or-hippo-hippopotamidae-news-photo/182129887?adppopup=trueAdolescent male
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246797/Open-wiiiide--Orion-hippopotamus-born-Pablo-Escobars-ranch-visit-dentist.html
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/zoo-worker-jorge-aguirre-prepares-an-hippo-named-orion-for-news-photo/96209895
Scroll to third photo in https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/11/invasive-hippos-escobar-colombia-castrate/
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/zoo-worker-jorge-aguirre-makes-a-dental-procedure-to-an-news-photo/96292892?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/news-photo/zoo-worker-jorge-aguirre-prepares-an-hippo-named-orion-for-news-photo/96209870
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/zoo-worker-jorge-aguirre-jumps-a-fence-during-a-dental-news-photo/96210087

Also see
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/happy-the-hippo-has-his-tusks-filed-by-keeper-anthony-news-photo/143313307?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/happy-the-hippo-has-his-tusks-filed-by-keeper-anthony-news-photo/143313019?adppopup=true

Homo sapiens is remarkably dexterous (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dexterous).

However, the pentadactyl hand is so evolutionarily primitive that it differs little, anatomically, between humans and the first amphibians that crawled out of the primeval swamp (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5182414/ and https://www.perplexity.ai/search/in-which-amphibians-is-the-han-lkAhD_RER8OzYdHDcHBr.Q and https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-many-digits-were-there-on-yUB3WAOzSB.iOWUVll7Kuw).

The crucial difference lies not in the hand but in the brain that operates the hand.

Similarly, Homo sapiens - unlike most mammals - enjoys colour-vision.

Like the pentadactyl forelimb, a retina replete with cones (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_cell) was probably already present in the first amphibians.

To this day, most reptiles exceed most mammals in seeing colours (https://www.perplexity.ai/search/which-class-has-more-colour-vi-150qLKxgQDeTIlIHzTo11A).

In the human mind, colours seem not merely to provide environmental information. Instead, we have a deep aesthetic (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetic) sense, which we assume to distinguish us from other animals - including even our closest relatives in the Hominidae (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominidae).

Once again, the crucial difference lies in the neurological 'software', as opposed to the anatomical 'hardware'. Humans imbue colours with meanings - consider van Gogh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh) and Monet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet) - that could never occur to an amphibian.

It is the dexterity and colour-consciousness of Homo sapiens that have produced our technical and artistic prowess - which can seem almost divine, as opposed to a product of animal evolution.

The basic point of this Post is to correct an intuitive misconception, viz. that our bodies are as evolutionarily advanced as our brain. It is perhaps more correct to say that the human species - the most elevated species based on our success in the world - are most remarkable for how primitive we are anatomically.

However, there are two noteworthy caveats in this interpretation, as follows.

Firstly, humans are indeed anatomically unique in our upright bipedality and our extremely modified hindfoot. And it is this freeing of the forelimbs from the constraints of locomotion that has allowed the application of the hands to dexterity.

Secondly, the hand and the retina differ in their evolutionary history.

In the case of the hand, the entire ancestral lineage of humans, from amphibians through reptiles and mammal-like reptiles through primitive Mesozoic insectivores through early primates to monkeys and finally hominids, has remained consistently pentadactyl.

By contrast, in the case of the retina, there has been a 're-evolution' of something long-lost.

The earliest mammals, and the earliest primates, were presumably nocturnal, with retinas dominated by rods (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_cell), not cones. This loss of colour-vision, relative to their reptilian ancestors, persisted for tens of millions of years.

Cercopithecoid monkeys evolved perhaps 25 million years ago (https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-many-millions-of-years-ago-xOFDy3HPS8qJ1MYIX.bCzw). It was only then that colour-vision, similar to that in humans, arose anew - in a sense reverting to a primitive anatomical condition.

@paradoxornithidae @tonyrebelo @jeremygilmore @beartracker @matthewinabinett

Also see https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/54893-ocular-displays-and-what-we-should-call-them-part-2#

Macaca nemestrina (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_pig-tailed_macaque) differs from other cercopithecid monkeys in having eyes with conspicuous colouration.

Furthermore, the pattern of colouration varies greatly within this species, based on age and sex.

In females (https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/photo/female-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-royalty-free-image/572636219?adppopup=true) and juveniles, the eye is somewhat similar to that in Homo sapiens (https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1018659601-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-portrait).

The sclera (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sclera) is unpigmented, and is exposed by the wide configuration of the eyelids (albeit not as wide as in the human species).

Please see https://www.simiansociety.org/nonhuman-primate-species/pigtail-macaque/.

This 'white' sclera is most conspicuous when the animal glances sideways (https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/sad-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-gm508666008-85394433?searchscope=image%2Cfilm and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=822538356577658&set=pb.100064645033286.-2207520000 and https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/portrait-of-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-resting-on-a-tree-trunk-gm1418048240-464891924?searchscope=image%2Cfilm and https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/photo/macaque-wisdom-royalty-free-image/535506761?adppopup=true).

In mature males (https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/male-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-a-medium-sized-old-world-monkey-is-in-natural-gm1016032602-273380979?searchscope=image%2Cfilm and https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/adult-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-or-sunda-pig-tailed-macaque-gm1303623601-395019844?searchscope=image%2Cfilm), a different kind of colouration becomes conspicuous, as follows:

• the sclera is downplayed, and
• what is instead subject to dark/pale contrast is the iris vs the inner upper eyelid - which is the palest part of the face (https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8055423).

The ocular (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ocular) colouration in females and juveniles seems to communicate attention and intention, somewhat as in the human species. That in adult males seems instead simply to emphasise the stare, which is fundamentally antagonistic.

At least in part, the eyes of M. nemestrina are among the most human-like among higher primates (https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/male-pig-tailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-eating-an-ananas-fruit-gm2143603643-568707765?searchscope=image%2Cfilm and https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/male-pig-tailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-eating-an-ananas-fruit-gm2143602589-568707718?searchscope=image%2Cfilm).

Adult females:

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/selected-focus-wild-southern-pigtailed-macaque-1673317477

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/southern-pigtailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-portrait-2494296595

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mother-child-southern-pigtailed-macaque-macaca-1118599595

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/southern-pigtailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-known-2163532001

https://www.mediastorehouse.com.au/danita-delimont/malaysia-borneo-sepilok-close-southern-13923309.html

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/monkey-or-wild-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-gm1299267689-391941426?searchscope=image%2Cfilm

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/monkey-or-wild-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-gm1299269413-391941448?searchscope=image%2Cfilm

Infants and juveniles:

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/pig-tailed-macaque-gm462388163-31876366?searchscope=image%2Cfilm

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/juvenile-pigtailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-isolated-364021712

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/southern-pigtailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-nature-1119315731

Mature males:

https://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina--portrait-captive-nature-image01693476.html

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/southern-pigtailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina-large-2468167679

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/monkey-pigtailed-macaque-99088430

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/southern-pig-tailed-macaque-gm885224742-245991544?searchscope=image%2Cfilm

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/portrait-of-pig-tailed-macaque-gm591985966-101652289?searchscope=image%2Cfilm

Also see https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/news-photo/pigtail-macaque-nestles-on-a-heating-radiator-to-keep-warm-news-photo/138513032?adppopup=true

to be continued in...

Primates in the Americas are remarkably small-bodied (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_monkey).

There are no gummivorous (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gummivore) primates in Asia.

Primates in Madagascar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mammals_of_Madagascar) tend to be solitary rather than gregarious.

Of the primates with irregular activity, all but one species live in Madagascar (https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/98222-sundry-points-about-the-biogeography-and-life-history-strategies-of-primates#activity_comment_891fab46-f9fd-477d-bcdc-df22efebcadc).

Only Asia has strictly animal-eating primates (https://www.perplexity.ai/search/which-primates-eat-only-animal-Ld3FqEDFQhSuZPVXIceKlw).

There are no strictly greens-eating primates in the Americas (https://www.perplexity.ai/search/which-primates-eat-only-animal-Ld3FqEDFQhSuZPVXIceKlw).

Colobines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colobinae) grow rapidly compared to non leaf-eating monkeys

Callitrichids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callitrichidae) grow rapidly compared to other monkeys

Lorises (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorisidae) have slow growth and long gestation for strepsirrhines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strepsirrhini)

Cheirogaleids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheirogaleidae) have short gestation periods and rapid growth compared to lemurs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuridae)

Strepsirrhines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strepsirrhini) have small neonates and large litters compared to haplorrhines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplorhini)

...continued from https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/98203-ocular-displays-in-macaques-macaca-part-1-semets-small-scale-patterns-of-conspicuous-colouration-about-the-eyes-in-the-southern-pig-tailed-macaque-macaca-nemestrina#

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18275-9

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-92348-z

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-006-0021-2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_macaque

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebes_crested_macaque

The main ocular display in Macaca fuscata, as in M. nemestrina, is one that accentuates the stare (https://www.alamy.com/japanese-macaque-snow-monkey-close-up-of-face-nagano-japan-image3327912.html). The relevant colouration is the darkness of the sclera immediately adjacent to the iris, which emboldens the whole eye (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wildlife_primate_monkey-of-japan_macaca-fuscata_closeup_31-05-2010.jpg and https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-face-japanese-macaque-macaca-fuscata-image32246044).

In M. fuscata, an ocular display is weakly-developed, and possibly absent in adults. The eyelids are pale, particularly in juveniles. The sclera, adjacent to the iris, is certainly dark-pigmented, so that in normal views the pale sclera is negligibly visible. This is so particularly because the pterygium (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eud5AurOxm0) can be large and darkish, narrowing the visible part of the sclera.

However, in both juveniles and adults, there is in fact a vivid display of the white sclera when the animal glances sideways (https://depositphotos.com/photo/japanese-macaque-face-160912740.html and https://www.flickr.com/photos/serad/4363718078/ and https://depositphotos.com/photo/japanese-macaque-face-160912742.html). This applies to glancing looks to either the left or the right.

Such sideways glances are infrequent. However, the display may be significant. It is as if a 'shifty look' is accentuated, in the ocular colouration of M. fuscata, by a white flash of the sclera that is all the more obvious for being offset by the dark band between the white part of the sclera and the iris itself.

The iris of M. fuscata, like the facial bare skin, is

• of intermediate tone (neither pale nor dark), and
• individually variable in tone.

https://www.istockphoto.com/video/close-up-of-macaque-monkey-being-surprised-gm1201550079-344622879?searchscope=image%2Cfilm

https://pngtree.com/freebackground/japan-macaque-red-closeup-fur-photo_4702694.html

https://www.japan-experience.com/plan-your-trip/to-know/traveling-japan/japanese-macaque

https://www.ross.no/2020/01/30/japanese-macaque-macaca-fuscata/

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=888342613333442&set=japanese-macaques-unique-faces-become-more-red-during-breeding-seasondo-you-have

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/panese-monkey-enjoys-outdoor-bath-1038883006

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtI0p6_8-z0

https://photodune.net/item/japanese-macaque-macaca-fuscata-portrait/49642424

https://www.bigstockphoto.com/image-239349544/stock-photo-the-portrait-of-a-japanese-macaque-%28-macaca-fuscata%29-making-funny-faces

https://es.123rf.com/photo_114496473_the-japanese-macaque-scientific-name-macaca-fuscata-also-known-as-the-snow-monkey-close-up-portrait.html

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-portrait-japanese-macaque-macaca-fuscata-2198213003

https://pixabay.com/photos/snow-monkey-japanese-macaque-japan-3970281/

https://www.pixoto.com/images-photography/animals/other-mammals/alpha-male-11067947

https://pixabay.com/photos/snow-monkey-japanese-macaque-japan-3970270/

https://de.photo-ac.com/photo/3069015/monkey-face-zoom

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/celebes-crested-macaque-macaca-nigra-known-2395606443

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/crested-black-macaque-gm1297108182-390334244

Origin of word 'orange' in English, according to Harper D, Online Etymology Dictionary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Etymology_Dictionary):

through Old French 'orenge', Italian 'arancia', and Medieval Latin 'orenge'

alternatively/in parallel, from Arabic 'naranj', via Persian 'narang' (meaning an orange tree), and Sanskrit 'naranga-s' (also meaning an orange tree), derived from a proto-Davidian root

Relevant words in Latin:

Noun: orange = arancium (plural -cii)

orange drink = aranciata (plural - ae)

orange tree = aurantium (plural -ii)

orange-coloured = aurantiacus/um/a

gold (noun and adjective) = aurum (plural -i)

gold coin = aureus (plural -ei)

golden-coloured = aureus/um/a

Examples of 'aurantiacus/um/a' in scientific names:

Anthreptes aurantium
Caladenia aurantiaca
Callosamia aurantiaca
Caloplaca aurantiaca
Caloptilia aurantiaca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloptilia_aurantiaca
Canna aurantiaca
Carnage aurantiaca
Catocala aurantiaca
Cattleya aurantiaca
Chloroflexus aurantiacus
Chrysomphalina aurantiaca
Citrus aurantium
Coenyra aurantiaca
Coccinea aurantiaca
Cronia aurantiaca
Curcuma aurantiaca
Cypraea aurantium
Diplacus aurantiacus
Halitosis pourtalesii aurantium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haliotis_pourtalesii_aurantium
Hieracium aurantiacum
Hydnellum aurantiacum
Leccinum aurantiacum
Mimulus aurantiacus
Ossiculum aurantiacum
Scedosporium aurantiacum
Thelocactus conothelos aurantiacus

EXAMPLES OF 'RUFUS' (https://www.perplexity.ai/search/in-scientific-nomenclature-ruf-tz2o1mqdS.S9s87eyR8jXA) IN NOMENCLATURE OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS

Mammals:
Aplodontia rufa
Canis rufus
Lynx rufus
Macropus/Osphranter rufus https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_kangaroo
Microcebus rufus
Stenoderma rufum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_fruit_bat

Birds:
Alectoris rufa
Anhinga rufa
Calidris canutus rufa
Conirostrum rufum
Furnarius rufus
Phylidor rufum
Sarothrura rufa
Selasphorus rufus
Toxostoma rufum