Walking monkey apes humans

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.

View: Full Article | Source: CNN

Yeah, I heard about it the other day ....

Didn't think it will make it to U-M, though

Otherwise, Horowitz said, Natasha's behavior has returned to normal.

Yes everything has returned to normal.... a monkey just began to walk on his two legs.... I can see it now - "Monkey learned to talk after brain stroke; complains that humans stink; otherwise, the monkey's behavior has returned to normal"

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.

So the part of our brain that tells of to walk on all fours is damaged somewhat and remained such.

It's probably more likely that, when we moved out of the trees, standing upright gave us a far wider field of vision, and thus more awareness of dangers nearby. And, just like every aspect of natural selection, those members of our species with the best muscle structure for remaining upright for extended periods of time were able to survive, and those that lakced it did not. This would just go on until we were so finely tuned to being upright, it's how we remained.

This isn't actually that big a deal to be honest...some circuses in certain parts of the world have been training monkeys and other apes to walk exclusivly upright for years. I don't think it's anything to do with brain damage (it was a stomach illness for crying out loud, not a stroke )...probably the lasting effects of her illness just make it more comfortable for her to walk upright.

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