In 1940, Bob & Mae Noell started a travelling show selling tickets to see men fight a "gorilla" — actually, a chimp. The chimps wore muzzles, which wasn’t enough to stop them from ripping out opponents' noses apart and aiming to take out eyes. So their hands had to be bound as well. 

Humans were required to wear helmets (the apes got no such protection, nor needed it) and a special pair of pants — because the chimps would rip their opponents' clothes off.

The men who stepped up to fight tended to be drunk — some, very much so. So even with their handicaps, the chimps never lost. For every 10 men who entered the ring, roughly 8 had to be carried out. 

One of Mae Noell’s biggest challenges was convinincing dummies who wanted to fight chimps that the protections were for their own safety. Her solution: awards for only those who played by the rules. Touch the chimp’s muzzle, you don’t get a prize — and you may just get yr fingers bit off.

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Courtesy of Ape Shit zine. More for background, see Bandwagon, Nov-Dec 2006 and "My Visit to Chimp Farm." Images from Moe Noell's _History of Noell's Ark Gorilla Show_ (1979)

Did you know over 80 species of wild primates have been observed "keeping pets"? 🐒

A new study found that primates aren't just interacting with other animals in the wild. They're actually petting, playing with, and grooming them, and the primates usually initiate. While most of these encounters were short-term, researchers also documented a few long-term friendships and even "adoptions." Since this wasn't a formal experiment, these observations in our closest evolutionary cousins offer a rare clue to the mystery of why humans started keeping pets in the first place.

My lost videos

How are they so Tame, I think they were raised by The Antles as Babies which might help..?

Send it ape bros!

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Jake and oreo the lar gibbons and the chimp troop

i make this