It’s a monkey! And something that’s genetically related to humans. The original image is in color, and looks pretty nice.

Yes, I’m someone who believes in evolution, which says that humans might be descended from apes. The chimpanzee used to believed to be 99% in common with humans, but more recent studies suggest 94% or even as low as 86%. Technically the chimpanzees are in the genus Pan, and not the Homo genus that Homo sapiens are, but there are some other species in the Homo genus which are less related than them.

They are the types of apes which have a strong social structure, with alpha males, empathy, and use of tools. There are the ones that Dame Jane Goodall were studying for the longest time, and she discovered a lot of things about them, including the fact that they have unique personalities for each chimp, and not just simple social norms. I’ve always thought that she was a good person, but was more convinced recently when I found out about this far side cartoon. It was originally opposed by the Jane Goodall foundation, but then the woman herself thought it was amusing and put a kibosh on the smackdown. There’s nothing like a sense of humor in my book. Now they sell a shirt with the cartoon on it.

Closer to home, the Como Zoo is building a habitat for some apes that will be done in 2013 that they’re calling the Gorilla Forest. This is a big improvement to the current habitat that they have for the big apes. They also have a bunch of other monkeys and apes in the primate house. The designs look like the visitors will be able to get pretty close to the gorillas, which will be interesting to see.