Baby Chimps play with 'stick dolls'...

[Pandora II]

This is so adorable...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/dec/20/chimps-play-male-female-genetic

I admit I have been suprised watching my own daughter - I was never a girly girl and wanted toy guns, penknives and aircraft kits for xmas and birthdays. I liked teddy bears but had zero interest in dolls while she has always been crazy about dolls. We gave her one for her first birthday and the first thing she did was cuddle it and try to feed it a bottle. She hadn't had a bottle since she was 6 weeks old and doesn't spend much time with other kids and to the best of my knowledge hasn't ever seen one with a bottle and yet she knew exactly what to do. 'Dee Dee' was then wrapped up and put to bed with much hugging and kissing...

 

[lucyandroger]

That was an interesting read.

This part really stuck out to me: "The few males in the group that played with stick dolls gave up when they reached adulthood. But females carried on the parental role-playing game and only stopped when they gave birth to their first baby." I wonder if those of us in the waiting to TTC or TTC stages of our lives would actually benefit from a doll or two.

My grandmother lives in a seniors community and she told me that a couple of the women there have dolls that they cuddle and pretend to feed. She said that looking back in her life, her happiest times were when her children were young and she thinks it just brings them back to those happy memories.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I read a book recently called Next of Kin: My Conversation wih Chimpanzees by Roger Fouts and absolutely loved it. He is a scientist who has worked with and raised chimps for three decades and fought avidly against animal testing. The intelligence and human-like qualities of these chimps is absolutely amazing.