Stan Lee, simians' superhero?

Since my column on comics wunder mensch Stan Lee appeared, I've heard from loads of his fans –- and now, I've heard just what he’s a fan of.

The Primate Rescue Center in Nicholasville, Ky., is the beneficiary of Lee's pen and brain and heart. He and artist Dean Haspiel drew a zinger, a four-panel comic for the online charity graphic anthology called Panels for Primates, to benefit the center. Have a look.

The killing in the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Murders in Rue Morgue," often credited as the first detective story, was committed by an orangutan; maybe it's time for someone like Stan Lee to put the Spandex suit on a simian and make a superhero out of him for a change?

MORE POSTS ABOUT ANIMAL-FRIENDLY CELEBRITIES:
• Justin Bieber's hair helps rescued farm animals -- wait, what?
• Paul McCartney asks India's prime minister to declare a national Vegetarian Day

-- Patt Morrison

Photo: Lee arrives at the premiere of "Thor" in Hollywood on May 2, 2011. Credit: Gabriel Bouys / AFP/Getty Images

Jane Goodall's primatology archives to be moved to Duke University

DURHAM, N.C. -- Chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall is moving her vast collection of field data to Duke University.

Duke spokesman Karl Bates said Thursday the archives on chimpanzees that Goodall gathered during decades of work in Tanzania is being moved to the Durham campus from the University of Minnesota.

The collection will be under the direction of Anne E. Pusey, chairwoman of the university's department of evolutionary anthropology. Pusey had collaborated with Goodall in Tanzania and previously managed the archives from her post at Minnesota. She was hired by Duke about a year ago.

Goodall is to speak March 28 at Duke about the archives move.

Goodall is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees. She also is known for her work on conservation and animal-welfare issues.

MORE ABOUT GOODALL'S WORK:
• Patt Morrison Asks: Chimp change (2009 Q&A)
• Loving chimps to death (2009 opinion article)

-- Associated Press

Photo: Jane Goodall visits Australia's Taronga Zoo to observe the resident extended family of 19 chimpanzees in 2006. Credit: Greg Wood: AFP/Getty Images

Your morning adorable: Baby Francois' langur monkey makes his debut at Australia's Taronga Zoo

At the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, a great deal of excitement surrounds the latest addition to the resident family of Francois' langur monkeys. A male Francois' langur named Keo-co was born Jan. 30 and ventured into an outdoor enclosure for the first time on Wednesday.

Keo-co's older sister, Elke, was born in 2009 and was the first offspring for mother Saigon. Unfortunately, Saigon didn't immediately take to motherhood and zoo staff elected to raise Elke themselves in order to ensure that she was healthy and well cared for. (Elke is now fully grown and still lives at Taronga, but she occupies a different enclosure than Saigon.)

This time around, Saigon seems to have gotten the hang of parenting and the zoo reports that Keo-co is extremely bonded to her. He is being raised both by Saigon and another resident female Francois' langur monkey, Meili. "The two mothers take care of him -- Saigon is the primary caregiver but when she needs a break Meili takes over; they take it in turns," Taronga primate keeper Roxanne Pellat told Australia's AAP news service.

Francois' langur monkeys are native to parts of Vietnam and China. They're endangered in large part due to hunting as a result of their use in some traditional medicines; they're also the victims of habitat loss and other common causes of wildlife population decline. Though members of the species are born with vivid orange coloring, their fur darkens as they age; adult Francois' langurs are primarily black with white markings.

See more photos and a video of Keo-co after the jump!

Woman causes a stir by carrying dress-clad marmoset into Virginia courthouse in her bra

AMHERST, Va. — A woman turned a few heads when she walked into a rural Virginia courthouse with a tiny monkey clad in a pink-and-white dress tucked in her bra.

The woman brought the palm-sized marmoset to Amherst County Courthouse on Thursday for a hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Officials apparently didn't notice the monkey until the woman went to an office to complete some paperwork.

In an interview with The News & Advance of Lynchburg, the woman says the marmoset is 7 weeks old and requires constant attention.

The woman tells the newspaper she bought the animal on an online auction site and had its clothes specially made in West Virginia.

RELATED STRANGE ANIMAL NEWS:
• Charo says she had to give up her pet bull after Beverly Hills neighbors complained
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— Associated Press

Photo: Cara, a 7-week-old marmoset, sits on a desk at the Amhert County Courthouse in Amherst, Va., on March 10. Credit: Scott Marshall / Associated Press

Nonhuman primates and humans have similar aging patterns, study shows

When it comes to getting older, humans aren't so special after all.

It turns out their pattern of aging isn't too different from most other primates, such as chimpanzees, monkeys and baboons, new research shows.

A team led by Anne Bronikowski of Iowa State University studied data on primate aging collected over decades around the world and compared it with statistics on modern Americans. Aging was defined as the increased risk of dying from natural causes while getting older. Some experts have thought that because people have relatively long life spans, humans aged differently from other mammals.

The research team believed that any major difference between humans and primates was most likely to show up with modern people, rather than a hunter-gatherer culture, Bronikowski said in a telephone interview. "And the fact that we don't find a difference there is more compelling."

The basic pattern they found is a relatively high risk of dying in infancy, a low risk of death during the juvenile years and then an increased risk of dying as aging progressed. Also, they found that in most cases males don't live as long as females.

Captive orangutans in Indonesian sanctuary may be released thanks to development company

TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK, Indonesia — Their black eyes peer from the slats of wooden cages, hundreds of orangutans orphaned after their mothers were shot or hacked to death for straying out of Indonesia's rapidly disappearing forests in search of food.

No one wants to get them back into the wild as much as Birute Mary Galdikas, who has devoted a lifetime to studying the great red apes, now on the verge of extinction. And for the first time in years, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, thanks to a Hong Kong-based development company's plans to protect a 91,000-hectare (224,866-acre) peatland forest along Tanjung Puting National Park's eastern edge.

"The problem has been finding a safe place to release them," said the 64-year-old scientist. "Many are ready to go right now."

A half-century ago, more than three-quarters of Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation spanning an area the width of the United States, was blanketed in plush tropical rainforest. But in the rush to supply the world with pulp, paper and, more recently, palm oil -- used in lipstick, soap and "clean-burning" fuel -- half those trees have been cleared.

Caption this: Chilly squirrel monkeys warm up by sitting on a radiator

Huddling around a heat source when it's chilly out: It's not just for humans. These squirrel monkeys in Qingdao, China, are no dummies. When a cold snap hit their hometown of Qingdao, China, earlier this month, they hung out in the warmest spot around: On top of a heating radiator!

If you have a great animal photo of your own, we'd love to see it! Click on the photo gallery below to submit it to The Times' photo-sharing site, Your Scene; post them on our Facebook page; or send them to us via tweet @LATunleashed.

MORE CHILLY ANIMALS GETTING WARM:
• Your morning adorable: Japanese macaque monkeys relax in nature's hot tub
• Photo: Chilly ring-tailed lemurs gather around a heater

-- Lindsay Barnett

Top photo: Wu Hong / European Pressphoto Agency

Baboons help discover new type of tangerine

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — When it comes to grabbing fruit off trees, baboons don't monkey around. Now their speed at gobbling up quickly ripening fruit has led to a discovery of what is believed to be a new type of tangerine.

South African farmer Alwyn van der Merwe said workers noticed several years ago that one of his tangerine trees was already stripped of fruit when the other trees were ready for picking. The same thing happened the next year and the next. A farmworker finally solved the mystery when he saw baboons picking the tree clean. This one tree was making ripe tangerines three to four weeks ahead of the others.

Van der Merwe said tests showed the fruit is sweeter and ripens faster. He produced more of the trees using grafts. His ALG Estates, a family citrus business north of Cape Town, will soon be exporting the tangerines, van der Merwe said.

"There is a big market in the U.S.," he noted. "Especially when you're earlier."

Your morning adorable: Baby potto makes its debut at Cincinnati Zoo

At Ohio's Cincinnati Zoo, a round-eyed baby potto is just about the cutest thing going. The tiny creature made its public debut shortly before Christmas and remains on display along with its family.

The baby, born on Dec. 8, becomes the eighth potto at the Cincinnati Zoo and only the 16th in any American zoo. Its parents are 10-year-old Lucy and 9-year-old Jabari.

Pottos are small, nocturnal primates that are more closely related to lemurs and lorises than to great apes like chimpanzees and orangutans. They're native to parts of Africa, where they live in treetops and eat things like fruits and insects.

See another photo and a video of the Cincinnati Zoo's potto baby after the jump!

Caption this: Baboon snacks on peppers

At the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany, you don't have to be human to celebrate St. Nicholas Day! In an event held Friday, the zoo's animals -- like this hamadryas baboon -- received special treats including peppers, apples and nuts and were given stuffed Santa hats to play with. (St. Nicholas Day is actually Dec. 6, but the animals got a head-start on the festivities.)

Hamadryas baboons are native to the Horn of Africa and parts of the Arabian Peninsula, which makes them the species of baboon with the northernmost habitat. Their home turf once included Egypt as well, and they were revered by ancient Egyptians. The Hagenbeck Zoo has long been known for its "monkey rock" exhibit for hamadryas baboons, which was conceived by the zoo's founder is considered the first installation of its kind in any zoo in the world.

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Malte Christians / AFP/Getty Images