# Do You Find Chimpanzees Creepy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 9, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458 "2020-04-09T20:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/41 "2020-04-13T05:17:15Z")
Something I didn’t even think about earlier in the thread:They used to have some sort of vendor expo in my area when I was a kid, don’t remember exactly for what but it was aimed at the general public–you would walk around to various booths and get free samples of different things, and have autograph signings for B-level celebrities of the time (my mother and grandmother went to meet Charles Shaughnessy, but Greg Evigan was there, too.) I wandered about on my own and at one point walked into the petting zoo area. As I was walking past, a chimp reached out and touched my arm. Its hand was leathery. (It was (probably) not Bear.) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/42 "2020-04-13T05:34:42Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > Yeah, I don’t know if creepy is the word I’d use, but baby chimps in the wild are much cuter than when humans try to “make” them cute. Give me a lil guy clinging to his mama and looking very skeptically at the camera over one cavorting around in a diaper any day. Agree completely. They’re cute enough when they manifest as themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/43 "2020-04-13T06:45:38Z")
Also pigs. Like the apes, when you look one in the eye, someone is looking back. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/44 "2020-04-13T14:15:46Z")
I’m put off by chimps. I don’t find them cute at all. I have banned any chimp-themed items from my house (well, not “banned,” but I make sure we don’t have any). Images of chimps creep me out. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/45 "2020-04-13T15:03:06Z")
> [@forArbitraryN](#): > > I think Gorillas have a strong, respectable look. They’re cool. Chimps, on the other hand, look like murderous schemers. I’m on board with this, mostly. My feelings about their appearances are significantly colored by their reputations. Gorillas have kind of a “gentle giant” thing going on; they bluff-fight now and then, and occasionally silverbacks do engage in mortal combat, but not the kind of rage-base overkill that you hear about chimps doing. Gorillas are really grand good-looking animals; [this famous shot of Harambe](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/05/29/us/30xp-gorilla/30xp-gorilla-jumbo.jpg) (prior to his sad demise) is brilliant. Chimps come in two flavors: bonobo chimpanzees (officially just bonobos) and common chimpanzees. Bonobos are considerably less aggression-prone than common chimps, and they aren’t as sturdily built. [Here’s a physical comparison of the two.](https://primatologia.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bonobo-vs-chimpancc3a9.jpg?w=700&h=525) Bonobos are famous for super-frequent sexual activity, when says something about their priorities. Common chimps are more famous for their violent attacks, perhaps the most famous being a 2009 incident in which [Travis the chimp attacked and severely mauled his owner’s neighbor,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_(chimpanzee)#2009_attack) nearly killing her and ultimately necessitating a face transplant. So now whenever I see images of common chimps, their capacity for disfiguring, lethal violence comes to mind. I would not want to work with them. If we’re going for nightmare primates though, I’d vote for the [gelada.](https://www.google.com/search?q=gelada&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjizqTx0-XoAhVHdN8KHZE-CdgQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=gelada&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAA6BAgjECc6BAgAEEM6BQgAEIMBOgYIABAKEBg6BAgAEBhQgIICWNKNAmDRjgJoA3AAeACAAWqIAZYHkgEDMS44mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img&ei=23yUXqL1Ecfo_QaR_aTADQ&bih=1141&biw=1808) They make me think of [the morlocks from the 2002 version of The Time Machine.](https://www.moriareviews.com/rongulator/wp-content/uploads/Time-Machine-2002-10.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/46 "2020-04-13T16:31:11Z")
I now feel uneasy about wearing a face mask that my wife made from material with Curious George prints. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/47 "2020-04-13T16:41:57Z")
All monkey-like things give me the willies. I think it’s because they look a lot like people, and people are creepy AF. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/48 "2020-04-13T23:21:34Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’m put off by chimps. I don’t find them cute at all. I have banned any chimp-themed items from my house (well, not “banned,” but I make sure we don’t have any). Images of chimps creep me out. You weren’t one of those kids who got a cymbal-playing chimpanzee as a gift, were you? I never understood why anyone would think those were appealing. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/49 "2020-04-14T00:36:33Z")
I don’t think I had one, but I certainly saw them around. I recall a segment in Sesame Street or Electric Company or something that featured one and I hated it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458/50 "2020-04-14T01:02:44Z")
> [@forArbitraryN](#): > > I think Gorillas have a strong, respectable look. They’re cool. Chimps, on the other hand, look like murderous schemers. Not creepy, except one that had a mutation that made the whites of its eyes actually white. It looked like a human in a chimp suit. That was creepy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-find-chimpanzees-creepy/851458.md?page=2)