# Apes kidnapping Human Women -- Totally False? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938 "2010-06-04T15:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/1 "2010-06-04T15:34:56Z")
Is there any truth to the legends about apes (gorillas, orangutans, etc.) kidnapping human women? Or is this type of tale just total fantasy? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/2 "2010-06-04T16:40:23Z")
It was documented in a 1933 film, but it is of dubious veracity. While Chimpanzees and Baboons can be quite aggressive, I’m pretty sure this is fantasy. Do you have any links to actual accounts of this happening? ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/3 "2010-06-04T17:13:41Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > It was documented in a 1933 film, but it is of dubious veracity. > > While Chimpanzees and Baboons can be quite aggressive, I’m pretty sure this is fantasy. Do you have any links to actual accounts of this happening? No, just hazy memories of images from pop culture (Tarzan, other “jungle-adventure” type movies and serials, pulp magazines, and such) – I suspected that the “ape-abduction” archetype was just a myth, but I thought that just maybe there were a few actual instances where it had actually happened. At the same time, it seems a bit silly to think that another species would find humans sexually attractive, don’t you think? Heck, maybe they do… I would hope not, but who can fathom the mind of a beast? (Or other humans, for that matter…) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/4 "2010-06-04T17:18:17Z")
Than an ape would find a human attractive as as plausible as a human finding an ape attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/5 "2010-06-04T17:25:10Z")
In other words, there’s one in every crowd? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/6 "2010-06-04T17:25:22Z")
It could plausibly be argued that apes abducting “our” women has been used as a covert metaphor for society’s racial fears. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/7 "2010-06-04T17:29:36Z")
I remember reading some story about an orangutan that was somewhat tame that would try to have sex with women, or something. But I don’t have any cite on it. I think I’ve also heard stuff about apes in captivity acting weirdly sexual upon adolescence towards female humans. Do apes recognize humans as being male or female? I mean if I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t know what sex THEY are. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/8 "2010-06-04T17:34:55Z")
[http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/Miscellaneous/Far\_Side\_Jane\_Goodall.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bearinsider.com/forums/showthread.php%3Ft%3D5894%26page%3D4&h=375&w=278&sz=40&tbnid=k4Yl1glZJryYtM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=90&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djane%2Bgoodall%2Bfar%2Bside&usg=\_\_PwPQbXnkmEMVtLF34oWO0IyLn9M=&sa=X&ei=\_DgJTKebJMX7lwfkoIi1Dg&ved=0CCoQ9QEwAw](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/Miscellaneous/Far_Side_Jane_Goodall.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bearinsider.com/forums/showthread.php%3Ft%3D5894%26page%3D4&h=375&w=278&sz=40&tbnid=k4Yl1glZJryYtM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=90&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djane%2Bgoodall%2Bfar%2Bside&usg=__PwPQbXnkmEMVtLF34oWO0IyLn9M=&sa=X&ei=_DgJTKebJMX7lwfkoIi1Dg&ved=0CCoQ9QEwAw) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/9 "2010-06-04T18:13:45Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I remember reading some story about an orangutan that was somewhat tame that would try to have sex with women, or something. But I don’t have any cite on it. I remember reading something like that in _Demonic Males_ by Dale Peterson and Richard Wrangham. I don’t remember whether it was something one of the authors witnessed or if they were just passing along a story they heard. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/10 "2010-06-04T18:25:33Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I remember reading some story about an orangutan that was somewhat tame that would try to have sex with women, or something. ISTR there was a cite about that in one of the “baboon rape” threads inspired by HBO’s Rome series. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/11 "2010-06-04T18:34:46Z")
Primatologist Birute Galdikas reported witnessing an orangutan raping her camp’s cook while working in, I think, Borneo. The account is in her book _Reflections of Eden_. ---
**Author:** ![RhapsodyInBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RhapsodyInBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RhapsodyInBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/12 "2010-06-04T18:44:00Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Primatologist Birute Galdikas reported witnessing an orangutan raping her camp’s cook while working in, I think, Borneo. The account is in her book _Reflections of Eden_. That incident is also mentioned in Sy Montgomery’s book, [_Walking with the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas_](http://books.google.com/books?id=QmIL1EvL0msC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=Birute+Galdikas+orangutan+rape+cook&source=bl&ots=XdtMMmw1dX&sig=vR1jzYPMA0it5ZgOai2tTIES108&hl=en&ei=iMUGTM_1J4SglAf3-8n5Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CC0Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false). page 151 > [@](#): > > Years later a wild adult orangutan came into her camp and raped a female Indonesian cook. Fortunately the woman was uninjured and she was not socially ostracized for her ordeal. Today Birute warns women visitors that if they are menstruating they should carry a stick with them and never walk alone among the male ex-captives. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/13 "2010-06-04T23:49:53Z")
Gytalf2000: > [@](#): > > At the same time, it seems a bit silly to think that another species would find humans sexually attractive, don’t you think? Not necessarily. Many animals are driven to sex due to smells that the “target” gives off. We humans have (in terms of sexuality) become visually driven and relatively insensitive to smell, but human women may, as far as we know, give off scents that makes apes go ape. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/14 "2010-06-05T00:09:35Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > At the same time, it seems a bit silly to think that another species would find humans sexually attractive, don’t you think? As said, animals are more scent driven than us. I’ve read that pet reptiles will sometimes become sexually aggressive or just plain aggressive towards a woman if she isn’t in a relationship with a man, for example (if she’s in a relationship she has male scent all over her). I think Cecil once mentioned sexual assaults by tortoises. And monkeys have been known to react to men by trying to castrate them. So, sometimes animals do notice and care what gender you are. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/15 "2010-06-05T00:25:25Z")
Well whadda ya know. I guess some animals do find humans sexually attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/16 "2010-06-05T10:25:31Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > As said, animals are more scent driven than us. I’ve read that pet reptiles will sometimes become sexually aggressive or just plain aggressive towards a woman if she isn’t in a relationship with a man, for example (if she’s in a relationship she has male scent all over her). I think Cecil once mentioned sexual assaults by tortoises. And monkeys have been known to react to men by trying to castrate them. So, sometimes animals do notice and care what gender you are. I knew a tortoise that would alternately try to mate with or attack one’s shoes. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/17 "2010-06-05T12:44:58Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And monkeys have been known to react to men by trying to castrate them. If ever in the presence of a monkey, I will be sure to remember this. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/18 "2010-06-07T14:05:01Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > As said, animals are more scent driven than us. I’ve read that pet reptiles will sometimes become sexually aggressive or just plain aggressive towards a woman if she isn’t in a relationship with a man, for example (if she’s in a relationship she has male scent all over her). I think Cecil once mentioned sexual assaults by tortoises. And monkeys have been known to react to men by trying to castrate them. So, sometimes animals do notice and care what gender you are. Wow! Sexual assault by Tortoises? Weird, wild stuff! I had no idea… ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/19 "2010-06-07T15:16:38Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > It was documented in a 1933 film, but it is of dubious veracity. t was also documented in the 1981 videogame, Donkey Kong. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938/20 "2010-06-08T04:31:45Z")
Most monkeys can tell the difference between males and females, so I imagine most apes can as well. My monkeys will duck-face (make sexy faces) to both males and females because they are inherently bi-sexual, but they are more nervous around males and show more aggression towards them. I’ve also heard stories about other apes who showed sexual preferences to humans, including a human-raised female chimp who loved to masturbate to playgirl. As for finding non-human primates attractive, if you spend a lot of time around non-humans, you do feel that some are more attractive than others. One of my friends who worked with baboons told me how this guy was entirely in love with a female baboon and allowed his love for her to break up his marriage. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apes-kidnapping-human-women-totally-false/541938.md?page=2)