Submitted by Elvismay: A young monkey at an Israeli zoo has started walking on its hind legs only -- aping humans -- after almost dying from a stomach illness, the zoo's veterinarian said Wednesday. Natasha, a 5-year-old black macaque at the Safari Park near Tel Aviv, began walking exclusively on her hind legs after a stomach ailment nearly killed her, zookeepers said.Monkeys usually alternate between upright movement and walking on all fours. A picture in the Maariv daily on Wednesday showed Natasha standing ramrod straight like a human. The picture was labeled humorously, "The Missing Link?"Two weeks ago, Natasha and three other monkeys were diagnosed with severe stomach flu. At the zoo clinic, she slipped into critical condition, said Igal Horowitz, the veterinarian."I was sure that she was going to die," he said. "She could hardly breathe and her heart was not functioning properly."

After intensive treatment, Natasha's condition stabilized. When she was released from the clinic, Natasha began walking upright."I've never seen or heard of this before," said Horowitz. One possible explanation is brain damage from the illness, he said.Otherwise, Horowitz said, Natasha's behavior has returned to normal.

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Yeah, I heard about it the other day ....
Didn't think it will make it to U-M, though

My theory on this is, Could something like this have happened 100 million years ago? Other monkeys or apes then mimicked the brain damaged animal and started walking on their hind legs and thus the dawn of the human race? So the part of our brain that tells of to walk on all fours is damaged somewhat and remained such.

if the monkey is in a zoo maybe it learnt through the repitition of seeing people walk by every day.

Well, I only learned to walk upright last year, so it isn't all that big a deal