Monkey Prose: Time Magazine

Friday, January 19, 2007

How We Became Human

The Oct. 9, 2006 edition of Time Magazine has a fascinating cover story about how humans evolved from other apes.

The chimpanzee genome was completed in 2005. When this was compared with the human genome, the variance was only 1.23%.

One significant difference between our two species is that chimpanzees don't appear to be susceptible to AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, or a particular type of malaria. Since our two genomes are so similar, a study of the differences may reveal a genetic basis for these diseases.

Check it out at What Makes Us Different?

Why a Blog About Monkeys?

Monkeys have many of the good traits and lack many of the bad traits of humans. We feel an innate connection with primates, which is why we are naturally drawn to them and why we think that they are so interesting. They are fun house mirrors of ourselves. Monkeys are like humans - before we went apple picking in The Garden of Eden . . . or was it The Olive Garden? I dunno, I always get those two mixed up. But I know that one of them has really good breadsticks!

Recently, I expanded the scope of Monkey Prose to cover other subjects like books, movies, art, wine, consumer issues, and anything else that I think might be of interest to my readers. Because, hey, you can't write about monkeys all of the time!

I am always looking for interesting and unusual stories to publish, so I welcome suggestions from my readers.

So that's the deal. Word up. May all of your bananas be ripe! :-)

Chimps Incorporated

Chimps Incorporated is a group based in Oregon who are rescuing chimps that were used in the entertainment industry.

Chimps Incorporated is currently building a 2000 sq. foot indoor enclosure for the chimps to use during the cold winter months in Oregon.

They could really use your help. They need 1) money (no donation is too small) and 2) grant funding. If you want to make a donation, or if you know of any grant sources for them, please contact Lesley Day at (541) 330-8159 or chimps@bendnet.com.Please mention Monkey Prose if you do!

Monkey Bob's Editorial Guidelines for Monkey Prose

I have been asked by a number of people about my guidelines for the content of Monkey Prose. A number of these inquiries came from primate conservation groups.

In order to protect their reputations, these groups only want to be associated with blogs and websites that present primates in a proper format, and that don't contain offensive or prurient material.

My guidelines for Monkey Prose are:

* No pictures of monkeys or apes in television, movies, or other media that present these creatures in non-natural settings. An example would be TV commercials, where chimpanzees are dressed up and are performing human functions. Many of these animals are treated poorly by their handlers, and many primate groups consider such use to be exploitation.

* No adult content material. This site is about primates, not porn.

* No material that would be considered to be in bad taste.

My goal for this blog is to present information about primates that is interesting, amusing, and/or educational.

I am open to suggestions from Monkey Prose readers. If there is something that you would like to see a post about, please contact me at bobsher54@verizon.net. The same goes if you see something that you find to be upsetting or inappropriate.

While I retain the right to control the content of my blog, I am sensitive to my readers' feelings. If I think that your suggestion or complaint has merit, then I will give serious consideration to making the suggested change.

I look forward to hearing from you!

- Monkey Bob

Monkey Prose

Friday, January 19, 2007

How We Became Human

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Why a Blog About Monkeys?

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"Monkey to Man" by Elvis Costello - The MONKEY PROSE THEME SONG

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