#chimpanzees

[babyanimalgifs]

A female chimpanzee escaped from the zoo, and walked around the city, until she met a good friend and decided to return. 

(Source)

[mindblowingscience]

A boisterous young chimpanzee slaps an adult in his family on the back, then scampers away and looks back to see the response to his cheekiness. Nothing yet, so the young chimp Azibo rolls back and dishes out another slap, this time provoking a reaction: the distracted adult waves a half-hearted swipe in his direction, shooing the troublesome youth away—though not for long. This scene recorded at Leipzig Zoo in Germany is just one of many analyzed by scientists to show that great apes engage in playful teasing in a similar way to young human children.

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[antiqueanimals]

Drawing Animals. Written and illustrated by Maurice Wilson. Published in 1964.

Internet Archive

[panthootplex]

maximise your capabilities

[jasvvy]

I don’t know what she’s building but I believe in her. 

[thatsbelievable]

[driveintheaterofthemind]

Betty White And "Friend"

[weirdnaturalscience]

you and me baby ain't nothing but mammals 🦇 so let's discuss how important female pleasure and stimulation are in the reproduction of many different animals 🐇

[the-cricket-chirps]

Francis Picabia, Le singe, 1939-1940

Francis Bacon, Monkey, 1953

[bignosebaby]

The Fall of the House of Usher: How about that chimp attack?

WARNING for discussion and explicit description of fatal chimp mauling, and pictures of fake gore.

Out of all of the unique and gruesome deaths that occur in Mike Flanagan's Netflix miniseries, I of course took particular notice of the mauling in episode 3; "Murder in the Rue Morgue".

In this episode, Camille L'Espanaye investigates her sister's laboratory where chimpanzees are being used as test subjects for an experimental medical implant. While taking pictures of the lab Camille comes face to face with one of the chimps, who attacks and mauls her to death. So how accurate is this?

While the chimpanzees in this scene are computer generated animation (which is the popular and ethical way to have primates in film), the depiction is largely accurate. It is not at all unlikely that a chimpanzee would maul a person in this setting and circumstance, or indeed in general.

Any setting with captive chimpanzees is attuned to how dangerous they can be even when treated ethically. Chimpanzees are several times stronger than humans and aggression and fighting are natural parts of their lives. As such, chimpanzees are separated from humans by metal mesh to ensure interactions are safe. Here's an example from Chimp Sanctuary Northwest, a very high quality sanctuary:

The chimpanzees are separated from humans by metal mesh barriers with gaps large enough to fit fingers through, but small enough that they couldn't reach through and grab a person, object, or clothing. This way the human caretakers can still interact with the chimps, but the danger is greatly reduced. Wearing scrubs, gloves, a mask, and keeping hair and loose items secured also reduces the risk of danger and are commonplace in primate caretaking. For contrast, this is the lab Camille enters:

These bars are not only spaced so that a chimp could easily reach through and grab a person, but the narrow shape of this room is such that there would actually be very few spots a person could walk or stand where a chimp couldn't grab them. This is definitely not regulation and extremely dangerous, and even if the chimpanzee that mauled Camille didn't make it outside the enclosure it still could have plausibly killed her. Narratively speaking the Usher family is established to violate rules and regulations, including vital health and safety protocols, so it isn't a reach to assume that this lab would not adhere to safety standards.

It is correctly pointed out in this episode that using chimpanzees as test subjects in biomedical research ended in 2015, but it is explained that the Usher family was able to get exemption for the research undertaken at this lab. As such, up to this point I found the episode to be satisfactory in its accuracy.

There is however, one big inaccuracy I couldn't ignore.

Chimpanzee maulings are notoriously brutal. Both chimp-on-chimp incidents and chimpanzee attacks on humans are extremely disturbing. When chimps attack to maim and kill they target the hands, genitals, and faces of their opponents, and cannibalism is common both during and after fatal attacks. Combinations of beating, tearing, and biting both in the initial attack and to the body afterwards mean that many chimp attack victims are rendered all but unrecognizable. While the chimp mauling in The Fall of the House of Usher happens off screen, the audience is shown the aftermath (above) and Camille's body, which is almost entirely obscured by the blood. Later, Camille's body haunts her father which allows us to get a clear look:

As strange as it sounds to say, I was disappointed! After being mauled to death late at night, Camille's body stayed in the lab for several hours until the scene was discovered the next morning. In the initial attack and the hours to follow, it would be very unlikely that her corpse would have even a partially intact face or hands. I will not be including photographs or links to actual chimp mauling victims, but Charla Nash who famously survived a chimp mauling was left with only a few fingers and required a face transplant as her eyes, nose, and jaw were destroyed. After several hours I would expect that Camille's body would have no face or hands, and severely torn clothing.

The chimpanzee attack, like many of the events in this show, have supernatural elements. Obviously not everything has to be perfectly accurate, but I think it would have been an asset not only in building the horror, but from a literary analysis perspective. Kate Siegel (the actress who plays Camille) said in an interview "I would say in the moment my face is removed, that would be the pinnacle of my character", and I have to agree. As the public relations coordinator for the Usher family, Camille controls the metaphorical face of the family, and her hands are the ones that pull the figurative strings. Making it obvious that not only did she meet her end as a result of trying to pull strings and manipulate the family image by digging into the lab, but that the result was the mutilation and loss of her own face and hands could have been not only horrific but a terrific literary device.

Accuracy rating: 8/10

[teachersource]

Jane Goodall was born on April 3, 1934. An English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 60-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees since she first went to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania in 1960, where she witnessed human-like behaviors amongst chimpanzees, including armed conflict.

[mindblowingscience]

Hold on to your heart: A new study found that apes — our closest living relatives — can recognize family members and long lost friends even after decades of separation. Researchers tested 26 captive chimpanzees and bonobos from zoos around the world, showing them pictures of former groupmates alongside pictures of unknown apes, ultimately confirming what primatologists have long suspected.

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[antiqueanimals]

The Book of the Animal Kingdom; Mammals. Written by William Percival Westfall. Illustrated by W.S. Berridge. 1910.

Internet Archive

[panthootplex]

the story of burrito and his frisbee.

link

[jasvvy]

jambo's hairless rampage (just another day in the life)

vid