# Seeing Eye Monkeys **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349 "2002-09-13T21:05:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/1 "2002-09-13T21:05:11Z")
How come primates aren’t used as assistants for the blind? They’re certainly smarter than dogs. Or at least my dog. A monkey would be just as able to see and indicate incoming cars or curb or obstacle as a dog. Pros: some primates are smarter - better able to learn tricks/behavior (all the way up that most imposing of tricks, language 🙂 ) on average than the dogs used as seeing eye dogs more dextrous - you can have them carry stuff or open doors or pull out chairs 🙂 Probably not smart enough to set tables or clean bathrooms ☹ 🙂 🙂 🙂 You can teach a monkey to use the toilet 🙂 🙂 🙂 Cons: worse sense of smell smaller (maybe less able to defend owner) not carnivorous (I’m not sure on this - aren’t most small primates herbivores?) (less able to defend owner) IS the age old stereotype of the mischevious monkey wrong? Are small primates too ready to play to be useful as aides? What about lifetime? Then again, there are a whole bunch of species of monkeys. Dogs are generally like each other, as well as being of the same species. I have yet to meet a dog that does not like its belly rubbed, and will run over to me and roll over. And I’ve met dozens. Granted - some dogs are more considerate of the people around them. It’s dangerous to keep a greyhound puppy around small children because it doesn’t realize that pushing them over is nto considered friendly. Dalmations tend to nip people they don’t know. And bulldogs… hmm. I have met one friendly bulldog, so it’s unfair to say that their only use is guard dog. What was I talking about? Oh, right. Is anyone here a zoologist, or even better 🙂 an anthropologist? Is this a reasonable idea? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/2 "2002-09-13T21:11:34Z")
They actually _are_ training monkeys to assist paraplegics. Yes, the concept of “monkey butlers” is coming ever closer to fruition . . . ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/3 "2002-09-13T21:19:09Z")
I would imagine that a dog is allowed in many more establishments then a monkey. A monkey would create too much of a scene, as the blind guy would want to simply get on the bus, instead of running from a horde of curious children. In a nutshell, a monkey is to exotic for the job. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/4 "2002-09-13T21:24:15Z")
A monkey wouldn’t exactly be able to lead you across a crowded street without walking into people. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/5 "2002-09-13T22:51:58Z")
I would think that a monkey would be extremely difficult to train and keep disciplined. Dogs on the other hand are much simpler pack animals, and while they don’t have the manual dexterity (or the hands) of a monkey, they are instinctively loyal and obedient. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/6 "2002-09-13T23:55:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*They actually _are_ training monkeys to assist paraplegics. Yes, the concept of “monkey butlers” is coming ever closer to fruition . . . \*\* Are they hiring yet? ---
**Author:** ![jawdirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jawdirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jawdirk)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/7 "2002-09-14T00:25:43Z")
Three words: dogs are domesticated. ---
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/8 "2002-09-14T01:20:45Z")
Perhaps someone could start a simple program - start with a thousand moknkeys and a hundred trainers. Train each monkey to do useful things, and eject the bottom third performers from the program. BACK TO THE ZOO, MATEYS! Allow the good ones to breed, and repeat the process with the children a likttle while later. Each generation is removed from the program after it breeds or fails. After say ten generations you’ll have only smart, obedient monkeys. They will only be good AFTER training, of course, but the same applies to guide dogs, which are the results of thousands of years of bring bred by humans. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/9 "2002-09-14T01:49:04Z")
Actually, I saw a show about this a while ago… One monkey (at least) has been at work for 15 years now, if I remember right… A nurse still comes to check on the parapalegic every few days, but the monkey feeds the man, etc. It was real cute. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/10 "2002-09-14T02:10:46Z")
I too have seen shows on television showing helper monkies for people restricted to wheelchairs. I guess the monkey is more useful for someone who can see but needs help with mobility, but I can see how they wouldn’t make good leads for the blind. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/11 "2002-09-14T03:22:10Z")
You should go rent the movie, _Monkey Shines_. Kinda old, but pretty entertaining (in a violent fashion), and it deals with the whole monkey-as-a-helper concept. Oh, and some monkeys eat meat sometimes, but I’m not sure which kinds (I thought I saw some chimps eating some other animal group’s babies on the Discovery Channel the other night). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/12 "2002-09-14T03:22:28Z")
I’m just wating for **Bo Diddley** to make the Obligatory Quote. 😃 (Get yer **SPOOFE** in here!) ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/13 "2002-09-14T04:30:08Z")
Somebody hasn’t seen Planet of the Apes. This is how it started people! Get a hold of yourselves. And beside we shouldn’t be giving the blind monkeys or dogs. Midgits would do fine. At least they can tell you whats going on. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/14 "2002-09-14T12:57:59Z")
Hmm. Well, unfortunately, the “midget” idea would suggest to children that dwarves are only good as servants. Short people are still people, and should not be treated as any less of a person. Actually, it’s a good idea in terms of helpfulness - but unforunately, minimum wage being what it is, aides are much too expensive. Thus, dogs. Or monkeys. Of course, society could remove the undesirability of being a servant 🙂 🙂 🙂 No more billion-dollar CEOs or corporations, no sir, the government will take a great deal of your money and put it to public good. No reason to make a lot of money. This is different from “no reason to work” idea. Hmm… I must htink on this. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/15 "2002-09-14T13:07:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cdhostage \* > Hmm. Well, unfortunately, the “midget” idea would suggest to children that dwarves are only good as servants. Short people are still people, and should not be treated as any less of a person. All the same, they could stand some diversification from the dwarf-tossing industry. ---
**Author:** ![Sivalensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sivalensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sivalensis)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-eye-monkeys/128349/16 "2002-09-14T13:42:13Z")
First I’d like to say one thing: APES, APES, APES, APES, APES!!! ok, well maybe that’s five When you’re talking “monkeys” here I’m assuming you’re all talking about chimps? Apes are more “sophisticated” if I can put it that way, than monkeys. A chimp would be capable of setting the table…they have in the past been trained to put on tea parties for zoo goers, but then they had to be taught to do things badly or people got upset that the chimps were doing it too well, and it wasn’t interesting. Chimps I believe have been known to eat meat but I don’t believe it’s in their normal diet (I’m not an expert but I was an anthro major and I’ve read a lot of books on the subject). They do eat ants, but I don’t know if that’s considered carnivory. Back to the OP, I don’t think that chimps would be as successful as dogs as see-eye companions. Chimps are definitely smarter than dogs, but they are also much MUCH more curious, mischievous (like children they like to test the limits and reactions of the adults around them), and as someone mentioned, much more likely to attract attention that a dog wouldn’t. You can “somewhat” domesticate a chimp…you adopt it as a baby and teach it how to eat at the table and put it in diapers and all those things. It then doesn’t have the same behavior it would it in wild, it’s more domestic. But another problem (and this would go with seeing-eye also) is that chimps a lot of the time don’t realize how strong they are. They can wrestle for fun with children or adults, and they’re strong enough to snap an arm in two, but they don’t realize the human is as fragile as it is. That could create problems if people (especially children) saw this exotic (to them) creature walking down the street and wanted to play. But who knows, maybe a chimp could be taught to not act out and to be obedient and all that, and once it was fairly common, people around them wouldn’t make a scene. It would probably have to be tried on a larger scale to be sure.