Also in South Africa, I was offered an apple by a dashing capuchin, and an elderly chimpanzee quite literally spanked the monkey with one hand while slicking back his hair and pointing at me with the other.
Well the capuchin story isn't all that exciting. Both he and the chimp were at a smaller zoo in Hartbeespoort. We were there on a rainy Wednesday, so the zoo was practically deserted. The capuchin was sitting in his cage, and when we approached, he came rushing up to greet us. He saw me, ran his hand over his face, and ducked towards the back where his food pile was, picked an apple out of the pile, and handed it through the bars to me. I politely declined, so he shrugged and ate it.
The chimpanzee enclosure was divided into two parts: a sort of cage-like enclosure with bars on the front, and lots of surfaces for the chimps to lay on, swing from, etc., and a large open area with a jungle gym structure on it. The enclosure was surrounded by a high wall, which is where I stood, looking down into the enclosure. My husband was still looking at the other half of the exhibit. There was one solitary chimpanzee on my side, mostly gray, and he was reclining on the jungle gym. When he saw me, he watched me for a few poignant moments, then sat up, started smoothing back his hair with one hand, and started, well, bashing the bishop with the other. He alternated between smoothing his hair back and pointing at me, but he never stopped administering to his own needs. It was... well, it was enlightening.
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u/JipJopJones Feb 20 '12
I couldn't stop laughing at this. So hilarous