Could a Chimpanzee Ride a Motorcycle?
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Probably better than you! [https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Vk0AAOSwYJ5jotqA/s-l1600.jpg\](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Vk0AAOSwYJ5jotqA/s-l1600.jpg)
"A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants" Chuckles the clown
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This act is a staple of small circuses everywhere. Chimpanzees like to play and show off; the biggest problem is getting them off of the motorcycle after their performance is over. :laugh: Food usually works: but as my wife and I saw at Vidbel's Circus in the late 1980s, the chimp took off down the midway on the motorcycle. :laugh: We did not see how they caught him.
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
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Probably better than you! [https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Vk0AAOSwYJ5jotqA/s-l1600.jpg\](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Vk0AAOSwYJ5jotqA/s-l1600.jpg)
"A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants" Chuckles the clown
k5054 wrote:
Probably better than you!
Wow. That is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Taking a look at the photo, what is the cable attached to the chimp's neck for? I'm wondering if it's a leash of some sort, or is the cable anchored somewhere to keep the chimp riding the motorcycle in a circle? It doesn't seem like it's anything that assists the chimp in maintaining balance while riding the motorcycle. If anything, riding a motorcycle with a cable attached to your neck would make riding the motorcycle more difficult. Well, at this point, if I were to go outside and see a chimpanzee driving a motorcycle down the road, it wouldn't surprise me. That's crazy. :omg:
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This act is a staple of small circuses everywhere. Chimpanzees like to play and show off; the biggest problem is getting them off of the motorcycle after their performance is over. :laugh: Food usually works: but as my wife and I saw at Vidbel's Circus in the late 1980s, the chimp took off down the midway on the motorcycle. :laugh: We did not see how they caught him.
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
Jalapeno Bob wrote:
This act is a staple of small circuses everywhere. Chimpanzees like to play and show off; the biggest problem is getting them off of the motorcycle after their performance is over. :laugh: Food usually works: but as my wife and I saw at Vidbel's Circus in the late 1980s, the chimp took off down the midway on the motorcycle. :laugh: We did not see how they caught him.
WHAT?? You actually saw that happen? :omg:
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You mean, like, can a person set out to intentionally train a chimpanzee to? I wouldn't think so. But obviously (?) a chimpanzee can learn on his own. Having said that, there's more to learning to ride a motorcycle than simply riding a motorcycle. There are traffic laws and such which the chimpanzee might not be capable of. So, I'd say no, he would self-teach, and learn only the basic operations of the motorcycle, not enough to ride on public roadways. I also suspect that it has to be a pretty simple motorcycle, like a scooter. No kick-start, no choke, or a trainer has to start it and have it warm up for him. There exists at least one chimpanzee who can ride some subset of motorcycles within some limitations of competence.
PIEBALDconsult wrote:
Having said that, there's more to learning to ride a motorcycle than simply riding a motorcycle. There are traffic laws and such which the chimpanzee might not be capable of.
Yeah, I don't think a chimpanzee would have any regard or comprehension of traffic laws and the consequences of violating them. I'd think that aside from balancing the motorcycle and keeping it upright, operating the clutch and transmission would be the most challenging things for the chimp to do. If you modified the motorcycle to operate using an automatic transmission, then I think the chimp would do just fine. Anyway, there have been several posts from members here that strongly indicate that a chimp can ride a motorcycle. Here's a link to one of the posts: RE: Could a Chimpanzee Ride a Motorcycle[^]
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Probably, but why? CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr.PhD P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Considering what the vast majority of bikers I see on the road do on the regular I think they definitely could, and would make for better riders than the average human.
GCS/GE d--(d) s-/+ a C+++ U+++ P-- L+@ E-- W+++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X The shortest horror story: On Error Resume Next
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Don't see why not. I saw a TV series where they trained a dog to fly a light aeroplane and do circuits in response to signals it received through lights.
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Jalapeno Bob wrote:
This act is a staple of small circuses everywhere. Chimpanzees like to play and show off; the biggest problem is getting them off of the motorcycle after their performance is over. :laugh: Food usually works: but as my wife and I saw at Vidbel's Circus in the late 1980s, the chimp took off down the midway on the motorcycle. :laugh: We did not see how they caught him.
WHAT?? You actually saw that happen? :omg:
Yes.
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
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You mean, like, can a person set out to intentionally train a chimpanzee to? I wouldn't think so. But obviously (?) a chimpanzee can learn on his own. Having said that, there's more to learning to ride a motorcycle than simply riding a motorcycle. There are traffic laws and such which the chimpanzee might not be capable of. So, I'd say no, he would self-teach, and learn only the basic operations of the motorcycle, not enough to ride on public roadways. I also suspect that it has to be a pretty simple motorcycle, like a scooter. No kick-start, no choke, or a trainer has to start it and have it warm up for him. There exists at least one chimpanzee who can ride some subset of motorcycles within some limitations of competence.
