Another one of Matt’s wacky news articles. Enjoy.
Zoo Wants Chimpanzee to Stop Smoking
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African zoo is trying to persuade its star chimpanzee to kick a bad smoking habit.
Charlie, a grown male chimp and the
Bloemfontein Zoo, has been picking up cigarettes thrown to him by
visitors and smoking them — a habit he probably picked up by observing
humans, zoo officials told the SAPA news agency on Thursday.
“Baby chimps pick up habits by
mimicking adults and we think he started mimicking smokers at his
enclosure which probably led to smokers throwing him cigarettes,”
spokesman Daryl Barnes told SAPA.
Barnes said Charlie was already showing the signs of a true nicotine addict.
“He even acts like a naughty
schoolboy by hiding the cigarette when staff approach the area,” Barnes
said, adding that the zoo was determined to help him quit.
Barnes said the most important thing
was that people stop providing Charlie with cigarettes or any other
treats, noting the chimp already had three bad teeth because of all the
cans of sweet soft drinks that people throw at him.
Charlie is not the only smoking
chimpanzee. A zoo in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou reported last year
that one of its chimps had taken up smoking and was desperately bumming
cigarette butts off visitors.
If that isn’t enough to convince anyone that smoking is an addiction, I
don’t know what is. But the image of a chimp sitting in the corner,
dragging on a cigarette is pretty freakin’ hilarious.
Cease_a_roni says:
haha… i totally got the image in my head of a chimp smoking. LoL, but for real, its a gross thing… so everyone should quit.
Amanda1011 says:
Maybe they should give him the patch.
It would hurt pulling that thing off…
Oh… and because you’re to lazy to post the actual thing in your xanga:
0. the “dateable” type, the “friend” type, the “brother (“sister”)” type, or the “oh, God, keep him/her away from me, PLEASE!” type? I’m dating you… what does that say?
1. Outgoing or shy? / Loud or quiet? Outgoing / and quieter than me
2. Smart or stupid? Very smart
3. Interesting or boring? Very interesting
4. Handsome (pretty for girls) or ugly? Handsome
5. Happy or sad? Happy
6. Talk or action? Action
7. Christian or non-Christian? Christian
8. Considerate or selfish? Considerate
9. Strong or weak (physically or otherwise)? Strong in both
10. Honest or dishonest? Very honest
11. Proud or humble? Proud where you need to be and humble where you need to be.
12. Social or antisocial? Social
13. Creative or lame? Creative… even with those uh… black-mail poems. LoL
14. Listener or talker? You’re a good listener, but you’re also good at conversing.
15. Prepared or spontaneous? Both
16. Resilient or despondent? Resiliant
17. Active or passive? Active
18. Detached or clingy? Healthy balance of both… no extreme either way.
19. Resourceful or wasteful? Resourceful
20. Like a “breath of fresh air” or like the “odor of death”? Odor of death. Aw man, I guess that means I’m willing to take in that foul odor every day… and I’ll die of the evil poison! Thanks a lot.
Megan71 says:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahah (that was in sign language…. just so you know)
Amanda1011 says:
HAHAHA. Megan… WOW. That was funny.
Anonymous says:
How does the chimp light the cigarettes? Do people throw lighted ones to him? Or does he have a lighter? If the chimp has created his own way to start fires – we have to rewrite the genus/species chart.