Heartbreaking - Chimp Asks Visitor to Free Him From Cage

[lousiest]

Video at the end got to me :'(

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183579/Welsh-Mountain-Zoo-Chimpanzee-asks-visitors-free-enclosure-heartbreaking-film.html

[Flitterkill]

Flitterkill's background: Anthropologist/archaeologist who lives with someone who has directly worked with some of the language chimps here in the states. I know this stuff; she knows this stuff.

 

Bullpoop. The first comment on that page (at the time I'm posting this) has it more or less right. He's mainly just mimicking the gestures the human makes.

 

Also, dear God no. Do not let him out. That guy who got mauled a few weeks ago? The grad student? This was our response to him going into the enclosure (past *two* barriers). Dumb donkey. Not a lot of pity here. And by dumb donkey we mean the kind that takes classes, learns stuff, and then just flat out ignores everything he was taught. He was an unaffiliated male essentially crossing the border of those chimps territory while they were out on patrol. The result was absolutely inevitable.

 

*ALL* the chimps you see on tv, in movies, commercials, are essentially infants. Five years old or younger. Maybe seven tops. After that they are impossible to predict/control reasonably. The chimps in zoos and language institutes? They are fine, well cared for and doing great. Any chimp you have seen on tv? Probably screwed, and in many cases probably living their life out in a tiny cage. That would be another 40+ years. In a 5x5 cage if they are lucky. You want to feel bad? Feel bad for every chimp you've seen *not* in zoos.

 

Sorry if this is a bit direct but bullpoop news bits like that do more damage to chimp's futures (by denigrating zoos, etc.) while cheerfully ignoring where the real damage is occurring (media chimps, habitat loss, bushmeat). I'm talking accredited zoos btw, not the mom and pop nonsense. Also props to the rescue sanctuaries (but beware - not all sanctuaries are actually good...).

 

And lastly. The Daily Mail. Sounds about right for them...

[samurai nightling]

Yeah, pretty sure he wasn't asking to be let out. Trust me I'm a huge animal softy, I don't want any animal to be harmed or all that stuff, but even I got the feeling he either wanted that cracker, or was just mimicking what the people were doing.

[lousiest]

very interesting. i learned a lot today

[VooDooPC]

Wait guys! Surely a chimpanzee knows that the windows of his enclosure are held in place with bolts! I mean, sure, he can't see them because they are on the outside and he's on the inside or the fact that chimpanzees don't even have the slightest basic knowledge of how threads and screws work or the fact that it was built before he was there or the fact that creatures mimic other creatures to learn...