October 05, 2005
And now, for good news
The last two posts are a bit of a downer (and an angry one and that), so I'm going to finish today with some good news.
A chimpanzee in a Chinese zoo has successfully kicked a 16-year smoking habit after becoming hooked when two spouses died and her daughter left.
State press said Ai Ai, a 27-year-old chimp at the Qinling Safari Park in northern China's Shaanxi province, ended her tobacco dependency when zoo keepers put her on a strict regime that included walking, music therapy and exercise sessions.
According to the Xinhua news agency report, Ai Ai became a smoker in 1989, shortly after her first spouse died.
She started demanding more and more cigarettes after her second spouse died in 1997 and her daughter departed to another zoo, it said.
The report did not say why zookeepers started giving the animal cigarettes, or whether they faced punishment.
Obviously she never saw the ads.
UPDATE: I have just been informed that Ai Ai means either "Love Love" or "Short Short". Must have been named by a someone with a stutter.
UPDATE II: I have now been informed that the Chinese repeat a syllable of someone's name twice to indicate affection. Well, there goes that joke...
UPDATE III: I have been informed that the joke was lame. And now I've been called Dan-Dan.
Posted by Quentin George at October 5, 2005 10:13 PMI think Dan-dan's a good name...for someone who makes lame jokes.
Posted by: Jan at October 7, 2005 11:20 PM