I went to the zoo once and I sat down by the chimps. I started to sketch one that was sitting behind the glass partition. It was a quiet day at the zoo, and for the most part, it was just me and the chimp.
He was very fascinated by my sketching. He then motioned to my purse and motioned to see what was in it.
I pulled out my pencil box and I could see him looking at it. He then motioned for me to pull out more stuff. I pulled out more stuff, including a hairbrush. I made the motions to brush my hair with it and then he copied the motions.
It was a really fascinating experience, to say the least. *That’s * why I like chimps. Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my), last time I checked, could care less about stuff like that.
Quite a different experience than the ones we used to have as kids visiting the “monkey house” at the local zoo. There was no glass barrier back then, there were bars instead, and the chimps would sit on the branches of their trees waiting for the unsuspecting humans to get close enough to the bars…
…and as soon as anyone did, the chimps would start urinating, throwing feces, spitting, and jerking off. It was like target practice for the little monsters.
I think the source of the loathing and the fascination is the same, and you’ve put your finger on the ape’s nose. Who likes a funhouse mirror? Some people do, and some people can’t stand the distorted image they see.
I neither like nor dislike apes. I’m not a baby chimp fan, I would never dress a chimp up in weird human clothes to be funny, I don’t seek out the monkey house at the zoo, and yet I can’t let a Franz Van der Waals book pass unread.
But I’ve felt a lot better about them since I realized we’re all just branches of the same primate tree. They’ve got as much right to dislike us as we them. And for all we know, they do. (Unless they’re particularly fond of cute baby humans.)
The more like us monkeys are, the less endearing I find them. I hope this doesn’t indicate something awful about my attitude to the human race…
Chimpanzees I find frankly disturbing - they are so like us, it’s like looking at a caricature of the human race. Ditto baboons. I hate seeing chimps in zoos - they just look like they really shouldn’t be there. And I’ll second what **sultana of slash[B/] said about dressing them up in clothes - I’ve been boycotting PG-Tips teabags for years because of their adverts with chimps.
Gorillas, however, I warm to, but I’ve no idea why. And lemurs and bushbabies are pretty sweet.
I like them just fine in theory. They are very interesting and all that. But in person they just give me the heebie jeebies. They are far too intelligent. They don’t seem to belong in zoos, and definitely not as pets.
My grandmother has a very large spider monkey. She didn’t seek him out to buy, he was a rescue, so I don’t hold it against her. I hate that little sh*t. He’s way too strong to have around, in my opinion. He can drag my 140 body around with no problem. Strength+intelligence= bad thing. If I go outside alone at night he will stalk me from the shadows. He keeps in perfect step with me just outside my line of vision. I speed up, he speeds up, etc. I can’t even begin to put into words how creepy/scary that is. Anytime I sit next to a window, he’ll come and sit on the other side of it, just staring at me. shiver
A chimp with a chainsaw is the funniest thing that has ever existed. Chimps in general are hilarious, if viewed through a sufficiently strong barrier. Especially when they’re behaving badly.
