News

Harvard Quietly Resolves Anti-Palestinian Discrimination Complaint With Ed. Department

News

Following Dining Hall Crowds, Harvard College Won’t Say Whether It Tracked Wintersession Move-Ins

News

Harvard Outsources Program to Identify Descendants of Those Enslaved by University Affiliates, Lays Off Internal Staff

News

Harvard Medical School Cancels Class Session With Gazan Patients, Calling It One-Sided

News

Garber Privately Tells Faculty That Harvard Must Rethink Messaging After GOP Victory

Addled Anthropoid

Cabbages & Kings

By Robert H. Sand

In a dark corner in a large cage in a Pittsburgh zoo sits Jambo. He huddles beneath a blanket with only his eyes staring glumly out to greet the world. His eyes are deep brown with dark rings beneath them. His entire appearance is extraordinarily melancholy--especially for a gorilla from Central Africa. But Jambo is not only melancholy and underweight--he is neurotic.

To brand a poor helpless gorilla "neurotic" seems rather cruel. But experts from the Highland Park Zoo and the Bronx Zoo have officially concluded that Jambo's misery stems from a psychosomatic condition. Having taken X-rays, blood tests, and chest thumpings, the doctors declared that all Jumbo really needs is "tender, loving care."

Now any worthwhile ape lover knows that when a genuine, Swahili-captured, African gorilla becomes emotionally disturbed, a more basic cause then the absence of human "tender, loving care" must be present. Jambo, it must be relized, is not only a male, but he is masculine. He is also four years old--an important stage in the life of a gorilla.

So when the doctors considered Jambo's personality--not to mention his hopeful glances from beneath a blanket--they should have realized that the trouble was more basic than rejection by his cage keeper. What Jambo needs, and what the doctors should import, is a brown, furry, Central African, Swahili-captured, female gorilla.

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.

Tags