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Rated • 1 review • africa • fotosearch.com
After a very kind review by rebekka92.stumbleupon.com [rebekka92.stumbleupon.com] *, who also kindly gave me some airtime on her blog, I'd like to be serious for a moment.
PLEASE READ THIS STORY. IT IS AN APPEAL FOR HELP FOR A SPECIES IN DANGER
We, in the West, are very lucky. For the most part, we are animal lovers. We keep animals as pets and make sure they are cared for and looked after, and they often have access to the very best veterinary care.
We also eat marzipan. But how many of us can honestly say we know exactly where that marzipan came from? Much of the marzipan we eat today is a modern equivalent, fabricated out of almonds and sugar. However, the chances are that if you've ever bought 'Organic' marzipan, it's come from somewhere different entirely.
The plight of the South African Screaming Marzipan Monkey is a very sad tale indeed.
A genetic quirk of this animal is that, from birth, the ear canals never drain properly. The ear-wax collects in the ducts within the head and take on the appearance, texture and even flavour of marzipan. This, in local teaching, makes the ear-wax a very valuable commodity indeed.
The South African Screaming Marzipan Monkey is often hunted and kept in small cages so that the wax can be drained and sold to the West. You've heard of Hopi Ear Candles? That was invented for the harvesting of this simian secretion.
This all sounds very barbaric, but the ear-wax serves a vital purpose to the survival of this creature. While ear-piercing to us, the trademark shrill shrieks and screams of the monkey are a crucial mating call. When their ears are clogged up, the sounds are perfectly bearable to themselves. However, when drained and returned to the wild, the monkeys' suddenly enhanced hearing means that they cannot bear to be within earshot of each other.
Not to put too fine a point on it, these animals are no longer doing it like they do on the Discovery Channel, and are rapidly becoming extinct.
There are two things you can do. Firstly, check with your local confectioner. Ask them to assure you that the marzipan they stock is Screaming Marzipan Monkey friendly. If they haven't heard of them, or think you've gone stark raving bonkers, boycott the store. You cannot be sure.
Secondly, you could send your donations to the Organisation for the Reintegration and Galvanising of the African Screaming Monkey (just Google "ORGASM", or the organization's more colloquial name, "Screaming ORGASM"). Just $10 USD will buy a pair of Monkey Muffs, which can return the monkey's hearing to previous levels allowing it to get it on monkey-style once more.
Please listen to their story. Then listen to the monkeys' screams. Then listen to your heart. You CAN make a difference.
* Bekka said I was "Wordy". I assume this means "Dashingly handsome in a Tim Henman meets Hugh Grant kind of way" in America?
PLEASE READ THIS STORY. IT IS AN APPEAL FOR HELP FOR A SPECIES IN DANGER
We, in the West, are very lucky. For the most part, we are animal lovers. We keep animals as pets and make sure they are cared for and looked after, and they often have access to the very best veterinary care.
We also eat marzipan. But how many of us can honestly say we know exactly where that marzipan came from? Much of the marzipan we eat today is a modern equivalent, fabricated out of almonds and sugar. However, the chances are that if you've ever bought 'Organic' marzipan, it's come from somewhere different entirely.
The plight of the South African Screaming Marzipan Monkey is a very sad tale indeed.
A genetic quirk of this animal is that, from birth, the ear canals never drain properly. The ear-wax collects in the ducts within the head and take on the appearance, texture and even flavour of marzipan. This, in local teaching, makes the ear-wax a very valuable commodity indeed.
The South African Screaming Marzipan Monkey is often hunted and kept in small cages so that the wax can be drained and sold to the West. You've heard of Hopi Ear Candles? That was invented for the harvesting of this simian secretion.
This all sounds very barbaric, but the ear-wax serves a vital purpose to the survival of this creature. While ear-piercing to us, the trademark shrill shrieks and screams of the monkey are a crucial mating call. When their ears are clogged up, the sounds are perfectly bearable to themselves. However, when drained and returned to the wild, the monkeys' suddenly enhanced hearing means that they cannot bear to be within earshot of each other.
Not to put too fine a point on it, these animals are no longer doing it like they do on the Discovery Channel, and are rapidly becoming extinct.
There are two things you can do. Firstly, check with your local confectioner. Ask them to assure you that the marzipan they stock is Screaming Marzipan Monkey friendly. If they haven't heard of them, or think you've gone stark raving bonkers, boycott the store. You cannot be sure.
Secondly, you could send your donations to the Organisation for the Reintegration and Galvanising of the African Screaming Monkey (just Google "ORGASM", or the organization's more colloquial name, "Screaming ORGASM"). Just $10 USD will buy a pair of Monkey Muffs, which can return the monkey's hearing to previous levels allowing it to get it on monkey-style once more.
Please listen to their story. Then listen to the monkeys' screams. Then listen to your heart. You CAN make a difference.
* Bekka said I was "Wordy". I assume this means "Dashingly handsome in a Tim Henman meets Hugh Grant kind of way" in America?
