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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 6h

Love how these pages from the Center for Great Apes Annual Report resembles my high school yearbook

An open, large, color booklet features scores of headshots of chimpanzees and orangutans, each with their names and birth dates

Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 9h

CORRECTION: On page 52 in issue #1 of Ape Sh*t, the photo below is listed with other pics as examples of injuries from capuchin monkeys. This, however, was from a spider monkey. I regret the error.

Photo of a human arms with what appear to be teeth marks and swollen, reddened skin.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

We talked about, among other things, our earlier ~2001 listserv Monkeywire, a collaboration with Onion pal @joegarden.bsky.social and WMFU's Becky Ebenkamp (who writes Ape Shit's TV column). Archives still hosted at lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/mo...

Screen shot from the old Monkeywire website, courtesy of archive.org. Next to a black and white image of a young chimp, text reads:

"Monkeywire is the premier source of monkey and ape news for ALL primates. We cull articles from traditional news services and distribute them to subscribers... Our privacy policy is simple: Monkeywire does not share subscriber data. Your secret is safe with us."

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

When I got my kid a scooter, first thing we drilled into him is that if a dog barked or ran after him, he needed to immediately get off, pause, then walk.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Thanks to the crew at the very entertaining @gorillaradio.show for having me on. It was a lot of fun! The link here is to the video version but you can get it wherever you get podcasts www.patreon.com/gorillaradio...

A multi-screen screenshot from the online recording with Gorilla Radio Show features (from top and L to R: Greg, Chandran, Austin, and a static photo of Carrie "Ape Shit".)

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

aw, shucks "And then I came across this diagram "How to keep a terrible idea alive" and now I can’t help but see parallels between the ‘helper monkeys’ and AI 🤯. What a brilliant magazine!!!"

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Reposted by Ape Shit the zine for primates

Marije van den Berg @marijevandenberg.nl · 29/09/2026

In een vlaag van nieuwsgierigheid bestelde ik het eerste nummer van het magazine Apeshit @monkeywire.bsky.social, met daarin “The bizarre history of the service monkey”. Over aapjes als helpers voor mensen met een handicap, en hoe dat een ding was in de VS in de jaren zeventig.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I find images of apes in clothing grotesque, but there is just something about this one... (Reprinted in a 1942 primatology textbook by the funny but deeply racist Earnest Hooten, _Man's Poor Relations_)

A black-and-white photo of two young chimps dressed in human clothing hugging each other and looking directly into the camera. A smaller, younger ape looks a bit scared but clings to her elder in comfort. The larger fellow wears a steady expression, holding the baby as if she's a younger sibling. The photo clearly is staged to resemble a human family photo.

The caption for the photo: "Interdependence of young chimpanzees." The photo credit is John Haeseler.

I'm guessing it's originally from a children's book Haeseler and his wife published in 1937, Shorty, about a chimp raised to perform as an actor in Hollywood.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The medias' response was also v interesting. The BBC documentary was age-restricted by YouTube from the get-go, even tho BBC docs (inc one about child sex trafficking) almost never are. Expert Yardfish said the monkey doc was restricted not because it was graphic but because it criticized Youtube.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Those who torture monkeys are also, surprisingly, not generally involved with other animal torture but rather enthusiasts of sexual sadism and abusive child porn. The sex piece was largely ignored in the BBC’s 2023 expose. www.bbc.com/news/world-6...

bbc.com

Global network of sadistic monkey torture exposed by BBC

A year-long investigation uncovers a sadistic abuse network stretching from Indonesia to the US.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

FASCINATING if stomach-churning 2025 interview with researchers who helped expose online monkey torture rings. I’d been wondering if this subculture was connected to MAGA or other hate groups, but turns out it’s not so much MAGA-aligned as meth-aligned podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/g...

Photo by Joel Gunter taken from the 2023 BBC report on online monkey torture rings, which you can read here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-65951188

Photo is of a white man with a crew cut and beard standing in front of a confederate flag and a "Trump 2020" flag.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Wild animals run from us, warn others nearby, and scream upon capture. The problem isn't that we can't understand their communication, it's that we don't actually listen or care what they have to say.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Harry Raven, who appears here as a boy, was the son of a Museum of Natural History curator. He told the NYT (6/5/2009) that he and his sister could play with chimp Meshi only when his father was shooting movies.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Yeah, I’ve been listening to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s _Braiding Sweetgrass_ and what I love most about the book is her portrait of a worldview NOT centered on hierarchy. Turns out that seeing everyone "beneath" us as cannon fodder is not the only way!

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Not yet sure where to stand on this, because primates aren't unique. All animals deserve to not be treated as tools or objects.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Hm, wouldn't be my first choice for acronyms ... (from PRIMATES, link.springer.com/article/10.1...)

A text clipping from a recent PRIMATES study with two terms and their acronyms highlighted:

- adopted infants (AIs)
- biological mothers (BMs)

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

After seeing her family slaughtered, Congo, once in captivity in the US, grew fixated on a mirror. Robert Yerkes interpreted her "infinite loneliness" as "mental deficiency," concluding that gorillas are inferior to chimps.

Black and white photo of a young mountain gorilla clinging to a mirror image of herself. Captioned: Congo with a mirror, from Genetic Psychology Monographs, Clark University.

The photo is circa 1927, when Robert Yerkes worked with the young gorilla. He wrote about Congo in _The Great Apes: A Study of Anthropoid Life_ (1929).

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This coulda been one of those cute inter-species primates stories, but never underestimate a chimp... www.nytimes.com/1942/05/25/a...

Newspaper clip from 1942 New York Times headlined "Chimpanzee Flees Cage Then Frees Kitten..."

A sentence within the body of the story is then highlighted in yellow. It reads: "...he opened the latch of the cage of an Angora cat and her kitten and gently removed the kitten but pushed the mother cat back into the cage and slammed the door."

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

And it’s also now available at Awesome on Flatbush Ave. in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. (Available at other retailers on October 6.)

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Ape Shit is now available (early!) at Quimby’s NYC in Williamsburg, along with a few back issues of my old zine, Stay Free!

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

For those days when you want to see the video of a chimp destroying a drone

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

4/ One of Mae Noell’s biggest challenges was convinincing dummies who wanted to fight chimps that the protections were for their own safety. Her solution: awards go to those who play by the rules. Touch the chimp’s muzzle, you don’t get a prize — and you may just get yr fingers bitten off.

Black-and-white photo of a purple ribbon that the Noell's gave out to participants who played by a list of rules. The ribbon reads:

"I am a member in good standing of the exclusive order of APE FIGHTERS by authority of Noell's Art Gorilla Show."

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

3/ The men who stepped up to fight tended to be drunk — some, very much so. So even with their handicaps, the chimps never lost. For every 10 men who entered the ring, roughly 8 had to be carried out. Most fights were over in seconds.

A page from Mae Noell's book shows a b&w photo of a shirtless man losing a fight with a chimp

A sample flyer advertising the Gorilla Show shows a photo of a muzzled chimp wearing gloves and the text:

"WANTED! Athletic Men to Earn $5 per second by holding 85 pound ape's shoulders on the floor (up to 4 seconds). Also wanted boxers to earn $1 per minute."

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

2/ Humans were required to wear helmets (the apes got no such protection, nor needed it) and a special pair of pants — because the chimps would rip their opponents clothes off.

A page from Mae Noell's _History of Noell's Ark Gorilla Show_ has a b&w photo showing the backside of a chimp in the middle of a fight with a man, wearing a helmet and falling to his feet as he gets his pants ripped off. The caption reads: "Some men who refused to put the outer pants on ended up in their 'birthday suits.' "

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

1/ 🧵 In 1940, Bob & Mae Noell started a travelling show selling tickets to see men fight a "gorilla" -- actually, a chimp. The chimps wore muzzles, which wasn’t enough to stop them from shredding opponents; they'd rip noses apart and aim to take out eyes. So their hands had to be bound as well.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Chimps, who are buff as hell, eat mostly fruit. Just sayin…

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Oh, and I should add that some thinkers (likely those who felt a closer connection to animals) seemed to avoid using "it" period.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Writers in 18th - early 20th c sometimes did that, sometimes just used "it." But there was a coordinated effort among lab scientists in the 1930s to objectify animals -- and avoid gendered pronouns -- to combat antivivisectionists.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The use of the “it” pronoun to thing-ify animals is one of my bugaboos. So I was happy to see that, upon making this mistake in unpublished notes in 1838, Charles Darwin corrected himself. He had been observing Jenny, the first orangutan exhibited at the London Zoo.

Text quoted from some of Charles Darwin’s unpublished notes, 1838 [See sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848615000370 ]

The key portion reads:

“Is very fond of playing with anything soft, covered <CROSSED OUT>itself<CROSSED out> herself up with two pocket handkerchiefs just like girl with shawl spread spread them out — considered them as her property would not give them up to me, but the keeper brought them and gave them. followed me and bit me for having taken it away and tried to pick my pocket.”

A painting make of Jenny, the first live orangutan exhibited in London. She was about 3 years ago upon arrival.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Who knew he was a *monkey* salesman? Jim Jones trafficked monkeys from Brazil into the US to raise money for his death cult en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones

A young Jim Jones, over 20 years before leading a mass murder-suicide, with a young wooly monkey.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Beautifully done short documentary. Sanctuaries are crucial for getting illegally trafficked animals out of the pet trade. Without these spaces, officials are stuck leaving the animals in place. #primates

aljazeera.com

Monkey Man: Protecting rescued monkeys in the Peruvian Amazon

In the Peruvian Amazon, a man in his 70s faces leaving the monkeys he’s dedicated his life to protecting.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Parrot lovers should be careful what they wish for, unless you wanna see more birds shoved in cages and subjected to gruesome invasive testing.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Saw this teased online, thought, "Tommy Lee: yawn," before realizing that Limbani (shown here dancing) is still in quarantine and probably bored out of his skull. from the good folks at savethechimps.org

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Makes you long for the days when there were clear, simple headlines.

A text-only newspaper clipping from 1902 reads:

[big print] GOOD STORIES
[smaller print] - African Baboon Who Fills Role of Signalman
- Mayor Wore Chambermaid's Stockings at Coronation

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Their historic role in pushing back against an incredibly reckless & stupid effort to promote using monkeys as caregivers is featured in our zine. Heroes!

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Humans are the most predatory *primates,* I mean.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The only apes that eat a significant amount of meat are adult male chimps. Animal proteins are only roughly 6% of chimp diets as a whole -- and other apes eat far less. Humans are the most predatory animals *by far.*

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Some of the analyzed images are of animals in unnatural conditions connecting with other species because they don't have much choice. The danger, as I see it, is that dummies will see this kind of thing as a justification for making pets of primates and other wild animals. (It's "natural.")

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I find the media’s framing of this as evidence that primates “keep pets” irksome & misleading. The study analyzed internet photos, inc. captive & free-ranging animals alike. Any view of inter-species relationships needs to start with recognizing our (human) desire to see and shape this stuff.

An ad for a Victorian menagerie (reprinted in Harriet Ritvo's class _The Animal Estate_) publicized the relationship between a male lion and female "tigress."

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Was playing around with a t-shirt design to target the elusive ape-loving vegetarian/vegan market. (If anyone has a recommendation beyond teepublic, pls let me know.) www.teepublic.com/user/ape-sh-...

T-shirt design says "Plant eater" in handwritten white lettering above a silverback gorilla eating grass. Designed for dark-colored shirts.

T-shirt design says "Plant eater" in handwritten black lettering above a silverback gorilla eating grass. Designed for light-colored shirts.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

To research zine issue #2, I did a search for podcasts about the history of animal domestication. Maybe I should take this as a sign?

The top result of a ListenNotes.com search for the history of animal domestication is called "Boring History for Sleep" from a podcast for "anyone who enjoys ancient history for sleep"

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

You call this singing?! Just goes to show that people who work in sanctuaries can be assholes, too.

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Ape Shit the zine for primates @monkeywire.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Yeah, I was originally going to do a history of pet monkeys for this issue but the Helping Hands story grew out of control... for a future issue!

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