Orangutan wants a kiss too

From medieval times when knowledge of apes first spread to Europe, 'to ape' meant to copy, with derogatory undertones. The devil was said to be god's ape, in that he could only imitate, in a gross parody, the works of god. It is true that they love to copy us! They will rapidly learn gestures and actions, even complex ones. Their imitation is the same learning by watching and doing that we humans do, especially in childhood. Learning by seeing is no mean feat! Only earth's most intelligent animals can accomplish this. To ape certainly isn't deserving of the derogatory spin it was given in the past, the ability to ape should be a proud label for any species which can accomplish it! Perhaps people in the past were just disturbed seeing the lines between themselves and beasts blurred, seeing an animal competently use human mannerisms and perform human tasks?

Have you heard of the famous chimpanzee's tea party of London zoo? It was a visitor favourite before it was banned, huge crowds would gather to see chimps drinking from the spot of the teapot, spilling drink on themselves, sitting on the table, drinking from their cups before the keeper was finished pouring.jpeg) their milk, exactly the sort of antics everyone expected to see. But they had to be encouraged to act clownish to meet the visitor expectations! They are so eager to learn, so dexterous, and so good at imitating our every nicety, that the tea party was originally too civil, chimps sitting happily in their chairs carefully sipping from their mugs.

/r/likeus Thread Link - i.imgur.com