Monkey See, Monkey Do.
My scary and amusing moments in the world of apes.
A friend of mine sent me a link about the story of a baboon in South Africa. And it got me thinking. All the monkeys and apes I’ve ever met were impressively smart.
The story goes that a railroad man named James Wide was a strong fellow known for jumping from train car to train car. Sadly, he fell and lost both of his legs in 1877. Wide could no longer work in the yard so he took a desk job as signalman. He bought a baboon to pull him around in a cart. The baboon was named Jack. And Jack reached his pinnacle of life by becoming a employed signalman at Uitenhage station in the Cape, South Africa.
Wide taught this smart mammal to pull the correct lever by the number of fingers he was holding up. People heard word of Jack the baboon and would come from all over South Africa just to see him operate the signal system without causing a train pile up. Although the baboon was always under the eye of his master James Wide, Jack never made a mistake or required telling twice.
Then came a “Karen” of her time. A society woman got angry because a simple baboon was getting ahead in life and decided to complain that a gimped man was using an animal to do his work. Jack was fired. Upon further investigation, Jack the baboon was given a test. Jack did so well that the railroad decided to rehire Wide and also put Jack on the payroll. He is the only simian to officially work for a railroad.
Last night, I watched a documentary on Netflix about apes, chimps, gorillas and us. I never considered myself among the animal realm. The film pushed the idea that these powerful and intelligent apes were our ancestors. I never did buy this idea. The teachings of my ancestors say that we were created by an Almighty being; call it God or the Universe or your Higher Power. More importantly, we have a soul.
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But I have to admit that seeing the fingerprints on those Silverback gorillas gave me something to ponder. Are the tips of their fingers unique like ours? Could I be wrong? Nah. I am not a descendant of apes. I am a son of Adam.
``WITH GORILLA GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR MAN?’’ — Ishmael
During a long road trip years ago, I listened to an audiobook of Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. A man answers an ad which says “teacher seeks pupil” and arrives at the location where he finds an ape in a cage. He sits down and over a course of days learns about human existence from this intensely mindful ape which communicates telepathically. Ishmael’s basic message to mankind is that we are in a world of mess. “With gorilla gone, will there be hope for man?” Ishmael ponders.
There are few animals in the wilds of Morocco. But tourists, both Moroccan and European, visit the cedar forests of Azrou where a species of monkeys live. They are seperated but related to the Barbary macaques of Gibraltar across the Mediterrean Sea. They no longer depend on getting food in the forest but instead find themselves begging from the tourist and then fighting over their shares.
When I was a youngster, my sister and I performed on stage at the Middletown High School n New York with a very famous chimpanzee named Mr. Jiggs. Mr. Bill Carter, principal of Mechanicstown School, put on a show every year in which top stars like Gloria DeHaven, Richard Kiley and Floyd Patterson would show up as guests. Mr. Jiggs was owned (maybe I should say handled) by Ron Winters. I remember being backstage when Mr. Jiggs arrived. He was old and graying but walked around quite self-assured. He was a star and was even on the Ed Sullivan show.
I found this cute story about how Mr. Jiggs scared “the wits” out of a woman while sitting in a restaurant dressed up as a Boy Scout. This woman actually filed a lawsuit against Winters and the chimp because in a state of panic she reinjured her shoulder which she had recently undergone surgery. She lost her lawsuit. Mr Jiggs was untouchable.
A barrel of monkeys
My wife Laila and I were stuck in Senegal during the pandemic of 2020. We took an Air B&B near a small village named Tasiniere south of St. Louis. The first day I walked towards the village I saw this face looking at me from a distance. I got scared because at first I thought it was a lion. But it was a monkey. I was still scared but the monkey backed up and stumbled back into the forest. It had a bad leg.
I recounted the encounter to Bas, the caretaker of the house. He told me I met Jambo who was the elder of a troop (I found it is also called a barrel) of monkeys. The next day Jambo showed up at my place. I took out a piece of fruit and he ate it. For a vegetarian he had big scary canines. Soon Jambo came everyday and at night, slept on the roof.
I hope that I will be able to be in the presence of more apes and monkeys during my life. They are fascinating animals from which we should take some survival lessons.
