matrushkaka and I have really been enjoying Street Monkeys, which is basically "Real Housewives", without the housewives, with South African vervet monkeys. A tribe of vervets lives in the forested park area of a posh gated community in South Africa, interacting with various human, monkey, and nonprimate locals. The Pani Troop are the protagonists, whose turf ( Read more... )

A few years ago matrushkaka and I went to the silent film festival where we got to see a very rare print of "The Circus".

( 70 year old spoilers inside )

People think that chimps and other apes are cute, but they are also dangerous. Apes live in pods where they compete for social dominance through violence. That's almost certainly how this guy got his facial scars - by getting the crap kicked out of him by a dominant monkey. When apes live in human environments they ( correctly) see other humans as ( Read more... )

Iraq seems intractible? Feeling threatened by China? Clearly the solution is MONKEYS.

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I'm in Nagano right now. Last night we stayed at the Jigokudani Onsen, and this morning we visited the Hell Valley Monkey Park. Through some strange coincidence (and without any prior knowledge or coordination) peglegpete happened to be watching the live monkey cam at the same moment and grabbed these two shots:


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Breaking news: on the set of "Speed Racer", Chim-Chim just bit the face of the stand-in for the child actor playing Spritle. This will be a difficult event for the production since the chimp and the child are supposed to be best buddies. This news should come as no surprise to those familiar with Monkey Tuesday. Never, ever keep midgets or ( Read more... )

I am deeply conflicted between my sincere respect for Jane Goodall and my sincere enjoyment of monkey movies.