Admit it: You watched the Super Bowl ads—and laughed at the one where a bunch of clothed chimps were working on a car in a suburban guy’s home garage. A neighbor asks the guy, “What’s with the chimps?” The guy replies, “They’re grease monkeys. I love ’em.”

Not everyone loves ‘em.

I spoke with critic Robert Shumaker, director of orangutan research at the Great Ape Trust, a research facility in Des Moines, Iowa, that studies the primates.

First of all, chimpanzees are not monkeys, right?

You’re 100 percent correct. Chimpanzees are definitely not monkeys. That’s a common misperception—to call chimps monkeys.

Why does this misperception persist?

Kids grow up being told that chimps are monkeys. Like “Curious George”—a “naughty monkey.”

So what are chimpanzees, then?

Chimps are great apes. The list of great apes is very short: chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans, and humans.

Then what are monkeys?

Monkeys are the hugest group in the primate order. [There are] a few hundred types. Generally, monkeys are physically much smaller than great apes. Great apes clearly demonstrate more sophisticated cognitive ability across the board than all monkeys.

Did you see the “grease monkey” ad last night?

I admit that I saw it on the Internet.

Did you laugh, and then get mad?

I didn’t laugh. I don’t think it’s funny. I’m just frustrated and sorry to see another company pick up chimps as something to laugh at.

Why are you frustrated? Are apes in entertainment not treated well?

There are different standards among different trainers. But the practices I find really objectionable are that the babies are not properly socialized with their mothers—that affects the mothers, too. And then [there’s] the issue of what happens to them as they get older. They’re only used for a short period for entertainment compared with their lifespan. In general, once they reach adolescence or young adulthood, they’re less easy to work with. And people want to see little cute chimps.

What’s their entertainment lifespan typically like?

Maybe ten years or less, and chimps can live into their 50s or 60s.

What happens when show biz is through with them?

Some chips go to retirement facilities—places that might take them and care for them for the rest of their lives. They’re run by nonprofits. It costs an enormous amount of money to properly care for an adult ape, and these organizations can’t just take an unlimited number of chimps or apes of any kind.

Sometimes they stay with trainers and live at trainers’ facility. Sometimes what have been termed “roadside zoos” end up with those animals.

Historically there’s been concern that chimps like these go to biomedical research. I don’t know of any cases where that’s happening now.

It turns out there’s another insidious impact of chimps in ads.

A study at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo found that people felt great apes were endangered, except for chimpanzees. When the [study authors asked] the reasons why, a large number said, “We see them on TV and ads and whatever, and you couldn’t do that if they’re endangered.” We replicated that study at the Great Ape Trust and found exactly the same result. The entertainment industry would argue that [it raises] awareness about great apes. All great apes are endangered, but the data suggest that people assume chimpanzees can’t be endangered. And that does impact conservation attitudes.

—Marc Silver

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