Earlier this week, a Connecticut woman was mauled by a chimpanzee named Travis. The celebrity chimp, who had starred in TV commercials, was eventually shot dead by a police officer. Apparently, Travis's owner had given him tea spiked with Xanax because he had been acting "rambunctious." (For more on the story, see this CNN article.) To put the sad news in context, Scientific American spoke with Frans de Waal, famed biologist at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and author of the fantastic book Our Inner Ape. (Institute for the Future executive director Marina Gorbis told me only half-jokingly that Our Inner Ape is the best management book she's ever read, even though it isn't supposed to be one. I loved it too.) From Scientific American:
What might cause a chimp to attack someone it knows?
(de Waal:) They're very complex creatures. People must not assume that with someone they already know there's not some underlying tension. It's often impossible to figure out what reason they have for attacking.Having a chimp in your home is like having a tiger in your home. It's not really very different. They are both very dangerous.
Even if a chimp were not dangerous, you have to wonder if the chimp is happy in a human household environment.
"Why would a chimpanzee attack a human?" (Scientific American), Buy "Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are" (Amazon)
