:lolxmas:lolxmas
Me Tarzan. You Cheetah? Last week the world, nay the universe,
mourned the loss of Cheetah, the perpetually grinning chimp sidekick starring in the Tarzan films of 1930s. And then ape experts went from rending their clothes to scratching their heads.
The owner of Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Fla who claimed to own the real Cheetah, said he was about 80 years old when he died of kidney failure — the oldest known living chimp is a relative spring chicken in her early 70s. Chimps in captivity are considered elderly by their mid-40s.
Imposter! Cried ape experts like R.D. Rosen, telling the Associated Press in an email Wednesday that the chimp the Suncoast Sanctuary claims was Cheetah looks like a “business-boosting impostor.”
Indeed there is a prominent memorial on the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary website replete with a donation tab accepting most credit cards.
“I’m afraid any chimp who actually shared a soundstage with Weissmuller and O’Sullivan is long gone,” Rosen wrote.
