A male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish.

It is the first time one has been seen using a tool to hunt.
The extraordinary image, a world exclusive, was taken in Borneo on the island of Kaja, where apes are rehabilitated into the wild after being rescued from zoos, private homes or even butchers’ shops.

“Orang hutan” means “forest man” in one of Indonesia’s many languages and our long-armed cousins do indeed show a remarkable ability to mimic our behaviour.

This individual had seen locals fishing with spears on the Gohong River.

Although the method required too much skill for him to master, he was later able to improvise by using the pole to catch fish already trapped in the locals’ fishing lines.

The image is part of a series taken for a new book, The Thinkers Of The Jungle, which also includes the first photograph of an orangutan swimming.

Click HERE for the source.

LOL, Enjoy.

By The Editorial Board | Thursday, April 24, 2008, 05:23 PM

Texas may not be the next Kansas after all. The state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board voted Thursday to deny a biblically based institution the right to offer online graduate degrees in science education.

We applaud the board for setting this precedent in what will surely be a long series of battles involving science education in Texas. After the wars over the teaching of both evolution and intelligent design that have splintered Kansas for the past nine years, Texans can breathe at least a momentary sigh of relief.

The Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research, which sought coordinating board approval for an online master’s degree in science, lacked many of the standards required of other universities to award degrees. Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes said that the institute, by insisting on a literal interpretation of Bible’s creation story, would fail to prepare students adequately for the field of science education.

The decision follows both Paredes’ recommendation and a unanimous vote Wednesday by a coordinating board panel to deny the institute’s petition. The proposed degree became an issue because a coordinating board advisory committee last year recommended approving the course of study. Paredes has said the advisory committee’s review process was flawed.

Dedicated learning in its many forms is generally wonderful. But course work must be labeled correctly. The state is right to require that a graduate degree in creation studies, which the Institute of Creation Research offers, be called what it is – a degree in religion, not science.

State education officials should continue to keep religion separate from science as they debate and make final changes to the state’s science curriculum this summer. Just as a graduate degree in science education shouldn’t have a religious base, creationism should remain separate from elementary, middle and high school science education.

Once the State Board of Education approves a public school science curriculum, it will begin selecting new science textbooks. Texas has immense power in the textbook arena because it is the second-largest state, after California, to choose its books on a statewide basis. Textbook publishers tend to sell a Texas version of their books, depending on what the state deems acceptable. Many other states, in turn, adopt the Texas books for their students.

Texas officials must use their power over course curriculum and textbooks in responsible ways to ensure that Texas students receive the best science education possible. Failure to do that diminishes the ability of Texas students to compete nationally.

Paredes and the coordinating board took a correct and principled stand in denying the creationist institute’s science course.

Source

~~*~~

These are wonderful news to hear from my state, Go Texas!
I am glad that we have people like Raymund Paredes Ph.D. as Commissioner of Higher Education in Texas.