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Zoo keepers go 'blue' in the face for a chimp of the old block...

Last Updated 25 December 2009, 18:16 IST
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There are three male chimpanzees in the Mysore zoo, Mason, 19, Vali, 15 and Guru, 22. There are also two female chimpanzees Marilla, 18, and Ganga, 42. They are kept in separate enclosures to prevent possiblities of getting into fights. With all the tricks in their trade to rouse the primeval instincts of the three male chimps mate with the two females in zoo having failed miserably so far, the staff are planning to procure some animal sex movies, of chimps mating, hoping to rouse the resident chimps enough for them have a go at the females in the enclosure.

The staff have managed to get such a film and are now plans are afoot to place the male chimps in a closed room where the “motivational” film will be screened. The zoo keepers had the less-than-bright idea of showing the male chimps video films of human beings making love. The chimps were not impressed.

Zoo keepers are hoping that male chimps who all the while had just spent their time eating and playing in the enclosures will now discover the facts of life and take their procreational duties seriously.

Like humans, chimpanzees are social animals and learn by watching. Brought to the zoo when they were young, the chimps did not get an opportunity to watch their elders in the act of baby making and thus learn. But this is not true of the female chimpanzees. Zoo keeper Shanker says during their monthly menstrual cycle, they come into heat and seek male companionship. But when they approach the males, no sparks fly. Chimpanzees Vali and Kapil were born in this zoo. Kapil was sent to the Lucknow zoo recently. Their parents Max and Anjali grew old and died. Since then, the zoo has no new chimpanzee born. There is one male gorilla Polo, 36, in the zoo. With no female gorilla in the zoo, the keepers are spared of the headache trying to teach him about the birds and bees.

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(Published 25 December 2009, 18:16 IST)

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