
Something Mysterious Is Killing Captive Gorillas - kumaranvpl
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/gorilla-guts/554636/?single_page=true
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trendia
I didn't think this would ever be relevant:a man decides to eat nothing but
monkey pellets. Interesting things happen to his gut.

[http://www.angryman.ca/monkey.html](http://www.angryman.ca/monkey.html)

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jonknee
What interesting things? It appears he went a week and didn't seem to enjoy
it. I imagine that would be the case for any diet where you only eat the same
thing for a week.

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chengiz
Yes I was hoping for a Supersize Me type experiment. I actually tried to
scroll down a couple of times not noticing the page had ended. Very
underwhelming.

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EggsOnToast
Was the food log from Supersize Me ever released? It's been a few years so
maybe things have changed, but the last time I checked there was a severe lack
of real information in Supersize Me to support the claims the guy was making.

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nordsieck
I seem to recall a number of other people trying to replicate his experiment
with much less negative consequences.

Example: [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2533353/Forget-
Sup...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2533353/Forget-Super-Size-
Me-Man-loses-37lbs-lowers-cholesterol-eating-McDonalds-three-months.html)

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ibdf
This is one of those articles that I don't want to read because the answer is
in the title. Captivity is killing the Gorillas, the illness they are
developing is a result of it.

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vikascoder
I do not get the concept of a zoo. I have been to a real jungle safari
recently and it struck me how obviously different animals are in their own
vast natural habitat than in a zoo. A Zoo may serve some educational purposes
maybe but it is cruel to just artificially cage animals cause you are too lazy
to make a massive effort to go see wild animals in their natural habitat. One
is not supposed to encounter wild animals according to convenience. Everytime
I have been to a zoo I have seen the saddest animals around. One can argue
about the merits of commercial safari but if it's part of a national park
system with carefully controlled traffic, it's actually far enlightening than
a visit to a zoo.

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CogitoCogito
> I do not get the concept of a zoo. I have been to a real jungle safari
> recently and it struck me how obviously different animals are in their own
> vast natural habitat than in a zoo. A Zoo may serve some educational
> purposes maybe but it is cruel to just artificially cage animals cause you
> are too lazy to make a massive effort to go see wild animals in their
> natural habitat. One is not supposed to encounter wild animals according to
> convenience. Everytime I have been to a zoo I have seen the saddest animals
> around. One can argue about the merits of commercial safari but if it's part
> of a national park system with carefully controlled traffic, it's actually
> far enlightening than a visit to a zoo.

A jungle safari is not something the majority of people can afford, while most
can afford a trip the zoo. I don't disagree with some of your points, but
lines like "you are too lazy to make a massive effort to go see wild animals
in their natural habitat" will probably fall on deaf ears. If you plan on ever
convincing anyone, I'd recommending sticking to your line that "one is not
supposed to encounter wild animals according to convenience".

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Angostura
> I have been to a real jungle safari recently and it struck me how obviously
> different animals are in their own vast natural habitat than in a zoo.

Having worked as a naturalist-guide in the Peruvian Amazon back in the 1990s,
the main way that they differ is by being for the most part - invisble. “Here
that sound? That’s a large group of spider monkeys moving off, nearby... now
look at these leaf cutter ants”

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mirimir
So many years ago, a friend convinced me to go "bird watching" with her. And I
discovered that it's mostly bird listening. It takes considerable skill to
actually see the birds that you hear.

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EugeneOZ
In the age of information overload, every article should have "dry" version,
without tones of water, just list of facts.

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saudioger
Turns out it's all the captivity

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gerbilly
It's the diet, but probably also the confinement.

It's like putting people in jail. It saps your will to live.

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creep
I agree with you, I don't know why you've been down voted.

A will to live is actually one of the most important factors in surviving any
injury or even any psychological upset. It's a really strange phenomenon if
you think about it. Conceptually you'd think you would die from a fatal injury
whether or not you wanted to live, or that you would survive if your injury
was not fatal or if you had no injury at all, but that psychological component
of wanting to die vs. not wanting to die can tip the scales to the other end,
miraculously. I suppose the most extreme example is suicide in otherwise
healthy adults.

Here is a rather long article on the subject in humans:

[https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-1/survi...](https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-1/survival-
psychology-wont-live)

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loxs
TL;DR - fibrosing cardiomyopathy caused by wrecked microbiome, because by
shitty food - low in fiber.

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paulsmal
Thank you. I wish more writers cared about readers time and include TL;DR in
first paragraph with more detailed content below

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gondo
they need you to capture your attention to display you the ads. how else would
they earn money? or do you expect them to work for free? would you work for
free? would you pay for this article? i certainly wouldn't even though i was
curious about the answer

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ssully
A story that is expressly written to hook you for ads is obvious both in how
it's written and it's quality (hint: usually bad).

There is a lot of trash written just to hook eyeballs so I understand your
sentiment, but it's very tiring seeing these comments, especially when it's on
a story like this that was well written and clearly not the kind of article
you are saying it is.

The headline in this case was written to hook your curiosity, but the overall
story was meant to explore more then just that answer. While it does answer
it's original question, the story is also very much about the history of
gorillas in captivity, and how their diets, treatmeant, and original
misconceptions keepers had evolved over the years.

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gondo
how you read the story depends on your subjective judgment. some might find it
well written, others might find it too long to get a simple answer to a simple
question regardless how well is it written.

edit: originally i was responding to the parent comment asking for TLDR on
every article. this is not related to the content of this particular article

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moneytide1
Low morale from being captive.

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coldacid
Low fiber from cheap diets.

