Chimpanzee Hunting Driving Monkeys to Extinction? Those Damned Dirty Apes!

Scientific American reports that:

Red colobus monkeys in Uganda's Kibale National Park are being hunted to extinction—by chimpanzees. According to a study published May 9 in the American Journal of Primatology, this is the first documented case of a nonhuman primate significantly overhunting another primate species....

...The study examined nearly 33 years of primate census data (covering 1975 to 2007) and found that the endangered Ugandan red colobus monkey population dropped 89 percent during that time, mainly as a result of being hunted by common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)....

....The decline was furthered by the fact that chimpanzees preyed more on juvenile monkeys which had not grown old enough to reproduce, hurting the population's chance to bounce back.

Meanwhile, the authors found that the number of chimpanzees in the area has risen by 53 percent....

Scientific American is wrong- this is not the first time that those damned dirty apes have tried to kill other primates. Several years ago I got my hands on an account of apes hunting man- I know it is sketchy at best and is not a complete account, but I am going to pass it on to you now to think about.... here is the other account that I have read of ape hunting man...

....Recently several of our astronauts crash-landed in a lake. They were named Dodge, Landon, and Taylor. They used an inflatable raft to reach shore and then set off through the desert, gradually encountering plant life. They find an oasis at the edge of the desert and decide to go swimming, ignoring strange scarecrow-like figures. While they are swimming, their clothes are stolen. Pursuing the thieves, the astronauts find their clothes in shreds and the perpetrators — a group of mute, primitive humans — contentedly raiding a cornfield.

Suddenly, gorillas on horseback charged through the cornfield, brandishing firearms, snares, and nets, which they use to capture whatever humans they can and kill those they cannot. While fleeing, Dodge is killed, Landon is bashed in the head and knocked unconscious, and Taylor is shot in the throat. The gorillas took Taylor to Ape City, where his life is saved by two chimpanzee scientists, animal psychologist Zira and surgeon Galen. Upon awakening, Taylor — now housed in a cage with a girl whom he later calls Nova who was captured on the same hunt — discovers that his throat wound has rendered him temporarily mute.

Taylor discovers that the apes, who can talk, are in control and are divided into a strict caste system: the gorillas as police, military, and hunters; the orangutans as administrators, politicians, and lawyers; and the chimpanzees as intellectuals and scientists. Humans, who cannot talk, are considered feral vermin and are hunted and either killed outright, enslaved for manual labor, or used for scientific experimentation.

Zira and her fiancé, Cornelius, an archaeologist, take an interest in Taylor when he tries to communicate by mouthing words. Taylor attempts to communicate by writing in the dirt, but his writings are hidden by Zira and Cornelius's boss, an orangutan named Dr. Zaius. Eventually, Taylor steals paper from Zira and uses it to write messages to her. Zira and Cornelius become convinced that Taylor is intelligent; but upon learning of this, Zaius orders that Taylor be castrated.

Taylor managed to escape and flees through Ape City. During his flight, he finds himself in a museum, where Dodge's corpse has been stuffed and put on display. Shortly thereafter, Taylor is recaptured by gorillas; finding that his throat has healed, he angrily addresses them, shouting "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!"...

At this point, the account that I have trails off, so I have no idea what happened. But it is clear from this account and from the story in Scientific America that apes and monkeys and chimps represent a clear and present danger to our society, and should be watched in the future very closely. I suggest doing so at your local zoo.