The Fear of Monkeys - The Best E-Zine on the Web for Politically Conscious WritingThe Moor Macaque - Issue Thirty-Five
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The Moor Macaque  from Christiano Artuso The Moor Macaque is endemic to the tropical rainforests and grasslands of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Their diet consists of they eat figs, bamboo seeds, buds, sprouts, invertebrates and cereals. They have brown to black body fur with a pale rump patch and pink bare skin on the rump and are about 55 centimetres in height. They are sometimes called a "dog-ape" because of their dog-like muzzle, although they are no more closely related to apes than any other Old World monkey. Adult male moor macaques do not interact frequently, although the interactions that occur frequently involve affiliation rather than aggression, with greetings being the most common form of interaction. The greetings enable males to show their willingness to invest in the relationship, and may represent one way for adult males to ease social tension and build social bonds. The moor macaque is threatened mostly due to habitat loss from an expanding human population and deforestation to increase agricultural land area. The population is estimated to have decreased from 56,000 to under 10,000 from 1983 to 1994. In 1992, Supriatna et al. conducted an extensive survey and found only 3,000-5,000 individuals of the species. The survey estimated densities to be 25-50 individuals per kilometre. Several Sulawesi macaque species are endangered, and information on their ecology and behaviour is desperate needed if conservation plans are to be effective.

   


A Victim of Democracy

by

Iftekhar Sayeed

After the 2001 elections, triumphant student leaders of the ruling party picked up 15-year-old Mahima and gang-raped her on February 13, 2002. The rapists also took photographs of the scenes and circulated them in public. On February 19, she committed suicide by taking pesticides. She received such treatment because her father and brother were opposition activists. (The Bangladesh Observer, 7th March, 2002)


Thirteen, she dreamt of love among her chores;
Indifferent to politics, she had
Seen them excited on election day;
It would be years before she could marry
Or vote. She had no concept of the state
And civilisation; then the boys came
From the ruling party and taught her all
These things in one humiliating night.
Technology abetted lessons; her
Pictures spread through the village like a fire.
The Id unleashed through democratic rule,
She saw the face of evil, and His love;
When nation's best minds turn away from Him,
What can a young girl do? They found her hanging, too.


Iftekhar Sayeed teaches English. He was born and lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has contributed to The Danforth Review, Axis of Logic, Enter Text, Postcolonial Text, Southern Cross Review, Opednews.com, Left Curve, Mobius, Erbacce, Down In The Dirt and other publications. He is also a freelance journalist. He and his wife love to travel. You may find him at http://www.iftekharsayeed.weebly.com/

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