Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Chimps Do Not Make Good Pets. But Bonobos?

The transformation of Charla Nash, who was badly mauled by Travis, a friend's pet chimpanzee, back in 2009.

If you were planning to buy the kids a pet chimp this holiday season, you better hold that thought.

A surprise announcement has come from the Jane Goodall Institute, the center named for the famed scientist who has spent decades of her life studying chimpanzees.  

It seems the Institute takes a dim view of people who welcome chimps into their homes as pets.  

"Want to raise a chimp?  Think again!"  their website harrumphs.  

Who knew?  Apparently chimpanzees, who share approximately 98% of their DNA with humans and are our closest cousins among the apes, are dangerous.  

The website cautions that chimp babies appear cute and cuddly, and don't mind playing dress-up when young.  But they grow up to become surly and unpleasant, and eventually refuse to wear the funny costumes that humans love to dress them in.

This is especially true of the males, who often become prone to outbursts of violence as adults.  What's neat about this is adult chimps are four to five times stronger than human males, much faster, and have razor sharp teeth and claws.  

So when they attack, they are damn near unstoppable without the use of firearms.  

Travis, the chimp who mauled Charla Nash, and his owner Sandra Herold, in happier days.  Travis was shot dead by the police during the February 2009 attack on Nash.  Herold died of a heart attack two years later.

Indeed, according to recent studies, chimps are natural born killers, and in the wild often gang up to murder members of other chimp tribes, then steal their land, food, and females.  

Chimps, as it turns out, are more like us than we ever realized.  They live in a highly-complex, male-dominated society.  Larger males routinely resort to violence and intimidation as ways to gain status among their peers.  

Meanwhile, smaller males use complicated, Machiavellian political maneuvers and alliance-building for the same purpose.  Just like among humans, alliances are fragile and can suddenly collapse when sneaky chimps sniff better opportunities elsewhere.

Is this a pet that you want in your house - untrustworthy, violent, immensely strong?  Most homes already have one of these.  They call it "Dad."


Male chimps on patrol at the edge of their territory in an African national park.  Violence most often breaks out on the borders between areas dominated by different groups.  Sound familiar? 
 

Bonobos - A Better Pet Option
 
There is a better way to keep a primate in your home.  We have another close relative among the great apes, lesser known and rarely taken as pets.  This one is called the bonobo.  

Bonobos have not been studied as extensively as chimps.  At first glance, however, I'd say they look pretty attractive.  

Physically, they are very similar to chimps.  The untrained eye can't tell them apart.  But emotionally, they couldn't be more different.  

Bonobos have a female-dominated society where very little violence happens.  What violence that does take place tends to happen when a male becomes aggressive and the females gang up to put him in his place.

Instead of violence, bonobos run their society through the near-constant exchange of sexual favors.  Bonobos are the only non-human animals to have been observed engaging in face-to-face sex, tongue kissing, and oral sex.  

Rather than being immensely strong compared to their human counterparts, adolescent female bonobos have clitorises that are three to four times bigger than those of adolescent girls.  So large, in fact, that they are easily visible, and waggle while they walk.  

The bonobos need those big clitorises.  Females frequently have sex with other females, usually every two to three hours.  

When a group of bonobos finds a new food source, their excitement often results in a group orgy.  When two separate tribes encounter each other, rather than fight it out like chimps do, the bonobos tend to mix it up with yet another orgy, swapping individuals between groups.  That gets everybody relaxed and on the same page.  

When you do the math on this, it becomes a little odd that people have been taking chimps as pets all this time.  Chimps = violence.  Bonobos = sex.  In retrospect, it seems like a no-brainer.  

Rather than worry about your chimp suddenly deciding to rip your face apart, or tear your arms off and beat you to death with them, with a bonobo, your main worry is that your favorite pet might become a little too fond of you.  

And really, that would be kind of a good problem, wouldn't it?

This could be you.  Two female bonobos get busy for the cameras.
 
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35 comments:

  1. I would rather have a bonnobo any time over a chimp

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  2. Mike, I want to party with bonobos.

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  3. so we can be either beaten to death or raped to death? no thanks! I think I'll stay with normal pets

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  4. It's monkey love! Can't beat that with a stick.

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  5. Bonobos are no safer and in fact more bitey than chimps..

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  6. You mean love-bitey?

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  7. They call him Dad? Misandrist cunt. I would have forgiven that little bit of man hating if the article were even worth reading. I'm disappointed in the article as a whole, even without your prejudice, it's just poorly written.
    It's as though I'm reading a high school paper written by kids who don't know what they're doing.
    2/15

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  8. "Is this a pet that you want in your house - untrustworthy, violent, immensely strong? Most homes already have one of these. They call it "Dad." "

    Your daddy issues are radiating from this article, author.

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  9. Interesting how the author didn't include the <>. Who wrote this?

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  10. Looks like some ugly guys got all salty about this article.

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  11. How about a pet:

    - That is always happy to see you;
    - Seems to understand at least roughly what you are saying;
    - Will not attack and disfigure you, or attempt to engage in sexual
    behavior with you (shudder); and
    - Will not cost you nearly as much to procure a great ape, grow it
    and then send off for adoption?

    Get a good dog. Seriously, don't be nuts, and even think about trying to make a pet out of a great ape.

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  12. A dog bit me once. It actually bit me twice in the same incident. And it hurt. A lot. I don't like dogs.

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  13. Once bitten, twice shy?

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  14. Mere Image Photography apparently never had a dog hump their leg.

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  15. But, if you find yourself in the African wilderness, and you are not Jane Goodall, please be aware of the differences.

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  16. The author seems to have daddy issues and I am also questioning her sexual lifestyle since she writes, "with a bonobo, your main worry is that your favorite pet might become a little too fond of you.
    And really, that would be kind of a good problem, wouldn't it?"

    How would a monkey trying to rape you be a good problem unless you were into it? What kind of sick and twisted, daddy issues having, freak are you?

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  17. Ya'all people are crazy. The author of this article is a man. The article doesn't bash men (since it's written by a man, who enjoys being a man very, very much). The whole thing is meant to be ironic.

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  18. Bonobos bite more than chimps do. They won't try to kill you like chimps will. But....they may accidentally sink teeth into one of your arteries....and then sadly try to make you feel better....by giving you oral sex....whilst you lay dying.

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  19. I feel the blogger is a bit too eager to engage in some Bonobo style violence de-escalation... How about we don't take apes and treat them like housepets?

    Hopefully this was meant as tongue in cheek.

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  20. Some of these posts seem a little violent in the content. Kind of makes you think doesn't it? Also it is hard to compare Primates with domestic dogs. Give the great apes access to human's at a safe distance that is, and a few thousand years then maybe they will be less aggressive towards humans. Then again they may want to get their bodies waxed and get many Petties.

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  21. Besides it took the wild canine many thousands of years to become domesticated.

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  22. Chimps DO NOT have "claws!" What an ignorant and absurd statement! They have nails like us and all the other Great Apes!

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  23. If you ever publish an article about men's retreat from marriage or other expectations of the male archetype, I hope the irony will be more apparent.

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  24. The article advocates keeping a large ape as a pet, and having sex with it. not sure how much more apparent the irony could be..

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  25. Three 6 Mafia Don(ald)May 26, 2019 at 11:31 AM

    Years ago, I was staying in Cartagena. there was a coffee shop run by a french couple where all the expats hung out. They kept a chimp on the premises as a pet. One day a sexy chick in a skirt was there sitting at a table and the chimp climbed up on her lap and gave her a smooch, then he hugged her, a bit. Then he had a hard on. Chimps have very small needle dicks. Or this chimp did. Everybody was laughing, and my girlfriend was like: "that's so sad. He should be in the jungle where he can have a chimpgirl girlfriend." The chimp was like: "Do I amuse you peeople? Is that my role in life?" Existential chimp.

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  26. The issue in the pet food industry - is that most pet proprietors don't think in similar terms with regards to pet food. funny animals

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  27. There you can download for free, see the first of these data. How much CBD oil should I give my cat?

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    Replies
    1. NEVER give your cat CBD oil. And never buy CBD oil online. If you can't get it at a trusted grower in your area, don't buy it. The shit they sell online is toxic. You can't know whats in it.

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  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  29. Wow, the Author seems extremely Ignorant, especially of Apes as Pets, To have a chimp or Bonobo is a Horrible idea, Both do & will attack its owner at some point, but taking one requires great suffering to its family, would you want such of your family? It's exactly the same as stealing a human from its mother. Leave Nature in Nature & enjoy it.

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    Replies
    1. People often Struggle with the Concept of Irony.

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