Just when you thought real hobbies were dead and gone, along comes an exhibit of monkey portraiture. It’s actually pretty amazing work, done by photographer Jill Greenberg (don’t recognize the name? poke around her site and you’ll recognize images from magazine covers and ads), and will be on display at the Paul Kopeikin Gallery in…

When 300-pound gorilla Koko had a toothache, she asked for a dentist. Koko is famous for mastering more than 1,000 American Sign Language signs. She made the sign for pain and pointed to her mouth. Dentists and veterinarians were dispatched to extract a tooth.

A monkey in an Israeli zoo has started walking exclusively on its hindlegs after nearly being killed by a stomach virus. Monkeys usually alternate between walking on all fours and walking upright, but this monkey is walking upright all the time, like a human. So far the only explanation zoo officials have is brain damage,…

When the zoo says don’t pound on the glass, they mean it. And now they’re giving chimps a way to fight back. Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo opened a new habitat for apes that lets chimpanzees touch a panel and shoot harmless blasts of air at unsuspecting visitors. The new feature should help people and primates…

A 286-pound gorilla escaped from his cage in the Berlin zoo on Tuesday, causing momentary panic. The eight-year-old silverback gorilla either climbed or leaped the 15-foot plate glass walls of his enclosure and began to stroll around the zoo grounds. “He just stood and scratched himself. He looked awesome but not fierce,” Berlin zoo visitor…

An injured monkey paid a visit to a Hong Kong high school yesterday, disrupting students and leading officials on a three-hour chase before escaping into the wild. A teacher spotted the macaque in the hallway, presumably late for class. It isn’t clear how the monkey was injured or where it came from, though “Monkey Mountain”…

If you’re a monkey, don’t play in Travis Allen Ballard’s South African garden. Ballard shot a vervet monkey with a pellet gun, and according to witnesses, continued to take potshots at other monkeys who were trying to assist the injured animal. Ballard was later fined $465 and the injured monkey was euthanased. The deregulation of…

Have you seen a monkey on Saint Paul Mayor Randy Kelly’s back? During a recent trip to Thailand a monkey jumped onto to the mayor’s back during a tour of a Cambodian monastery. Kelly had asked reporters not to photograph the incident, though rumor is someone has a ‘monkey on Kelly’s back’ screensaver. We can…

What’s better than monkey games when you’re looking to kill an afternoon? Check out these addictive flash games: Monkey Lander – You can never get enough monkeys in space. Help the monkey nab prizes and land his spacecraft without hitting anything. Monkey Snowfight – A two player game where you lob snowballs at one another.…