chimpy.jpg

Just to make sure we keep the variety up, you know, with all the Obama posts and political news. In today’s featured story, chimps can plan, but aren’t very good shots.

Zoo chimp shows people aren’t the only planners

A canny chimpanzee who calmly collected a stash of rocks and then hurled them at zoo visitors in fits of rage has confirmed that apes can plan ahead just like humans, a Swedish study said Monday.

Santino the chimpanzee’s anti-social behavior stunned both visitors and keepers at the Furuvik Zoo but fascinated researchers because it was so carefully prepared.

According to a report in the journal Current Biology, the 31-year-old alpha male started building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opened, collecting rocks and knocking out disks from concrete boulders inside his enclosure. He waited until around midday before he unleashed a “hailstorm” of rocks against visitors, the study said…However, he rarely hit visitors because of his poor aim, and no one was seriously injured in the cases when he did, Osvath said. […]

For a while, zoo keepers tried locking Santino up in the morning so he couldn’t collect ammunition for his assaults, but he remained aggressive. They ultimately decided to castrate him in the autumn last year, but will have to wait until the summer to see if that helps.

Ow.

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4 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Draybee says:

    Is that “ow” to the flying rocks or “ow” to the castration?

    Personally, if a monkey is going to fling something at me, I’d prefer it to be a rock.

  2. Marie says:

    hmmmm…castrate him to see if that helps..hmmmm….do you think that would work against terrorist or would that be torture?!!!!

  3. echo says:

    Obviously he wasn’t properly socialized, or he’d use his own poo like every other chimp in the world. And what’s with the castration? Who runs that zoo, my ex-wife?

  4. Hadsil says:

    You posted a picture of a chimpanzee. Along with dissent is now racist instead of the highest form of patriotism, didn’t you get the memo that making references to apes or monkeys is now racist too? Get with the programming, comrade.

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