by B. R. GOWANI
the long-tailed macaques hang around Uluwatu Temple in Bali, Indonesia
these monkey-apes <1> do snatch things from human-apes <2> in no time
they seize smart phones, eye/sun glasses, slippers, caps, jewelry, etc
mind you, these things they don’t steal out of greed like human-apes do
but it’s a means to an end — the real goal is food
the job is done for a bartering purpose
science journalist Signe Dean is a bit harsh on these monkeys
how wild monkeys embraced the thug <3> life to sell stolen human valuables for food
Merriam Webster‘s definition of thug:
“a violent or brutish criminal or bully”
the monkeys hanging around the temple are not violent
nor are they brutish or criminal
yes, they are rough, one has to admit
once the temple staff gives food, they return the item without a 2nd thought
like most of the human beings, monkeys want to be treated equally
a monkey who got cucumber goes mad when another one gained a grape
recently, a monkey in Vrindavan, India stole a smart phone
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra worth rupees or Rs129, 999 or US $1505
the monkey thought: should I keep the phone …
but then, if I keep the phone …
I’ll be busy playing around with it
I’ll stop observing, thinking, imagining, fooling around
I won’t be too much social, familial, natural, that is, nature loving
an emergence of a new model will force me to steal or work to get it
please, don’t laugh — I am not kidding
dogs, oxens, camels, donkeys, mules, cows, horses, elephants, llamas, …
they do back-breaking stressful jobs in many places around the world
snakes, cormorants, eel, and others also work for human-apes
rats are used to detect minefields, seals and dolphins for military purpose
not to ignore the animals used in laboratories andd the cruelty they face
PETA aptly depicts the cruelty lab animals face
“Animals are infected with diseases that they would never normally contract, tiny mice grow tumors as large as their own bodies, kittens are purposely blinded, rats are made to suffer seizures, and primates’ skulls are cut open and electrodes are implanted in them. Experimenters force-feed chemicals to animals, conduct repeated surgeries on them, implant wires in their brains, crush their spines, and much more.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
each year more than 110 million animals are killed in US labs
our cousins, the capitalist human-apes even make human children work
so how the hell am I going to resist if they enslave me to work
it’s real hot, let me enjoy a mango drink as a barter for the smart phone
till the time I am free
future is uncertain
the world is changing very fast
the leaders are petty, hateful, ethnocentric/religiocentric
those power-loving human-apes don’t give a shit about us animals
but then they don’t give a damn about most of the human-apes either
NOTES
<1> Fabio Mendes to those who ask sarcastically as to how come apes are still around if we evolved from apes.
“We did not evolve from a modern, living ape, like a chimpanzee. We evolved and descended from the common ancestor of apes, which lived and died in the distant past. This means that we are related to other apes and that we are apes ourselves. And alongside us, the other living ape species have also evolved from that same common ancestor, and exist today in the wild and zoos.”
<2> Science communicator Cara Santa Maria points out the closeness between Bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans.
“Of the five living great apes (humans, gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos), we share the highest DNA complement with chimps and bonobos (we only differ by ). To put that in perspective, we are closer to these ape relatives than they are to gorillas, closer than a dog is to a fox, or even an African elephant is to an Indian elephant. In fact, we (Homo) are thought to have diverged from Pan genus only 4-5 million years ago, an eyeblink in the grand evolutionary scheme of things.”
<3> Stephen Jay Gould is so right when he questions:
“Why should our nastiness be the baggage of an apish past and our kindness uniquely human? Why should we not seek continuity with other animals for our ‘noble’ traits as well?”
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com