World's Heritage Being Destroyed
13 April 2003, 9:43 PM

Dammit. This kind of thing is so depressing. I remember reading in National Geographic back in 1992 or so about some vandals who spray painted all over early Neolithic cave paintings. Then there was the destruction of those several thousand year old Buddhist statues by the Taliban.

Now the Iraqi National Museum has been plundered and many artifacts are being out-right destroyed. You might ho-hum at that news until you learn that it's this museum that houses the Shanidar Neanderthals. Or that it's this museum that held the clay tablets that are the very first examples of writing by human beings. The very first examples of human writing. And they may have been destroyed beyond repair.

The artifacts in the Iraqi National Museum are thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of years old. Many come from the very first cities and civilizations. Babylonian, Mesopotamian, Assyrian. Early Neolithic. Remnants of the very beginnings of western civilization. They are utterly PRICELESS to the entire world, and we obviously didn't care enough to plan to avoid the destruction.

*sigh* I hate people sometimes.

Cheeta: World's Oldest (Known) Chimp
13 April 2003, 9:21 PM

Holy Cow. I had no IDEA that Cheeta was still alive....

Cheeta of Tarzan fame named world's oldest chimp
The Associated Press

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (April 12, 2:57 p.m. PDT) - Cheeta lives in this desert resort town like a lot of old movie stars, painting, playing the piano and watching his old movies. But as one of Palm Springs' only retired chimpanzees, he stands out.

The last actor to have played the lead chimpanzee role in the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and '40s, Cheeta is 71 now - the oldest chimp in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

"He's just part of the family," said Dan Westfall, who saved Cheeta's life when he adopted him from Tony Gentry, an animal trainer who worked in Hollywood.

Gentry, Westfall's uncle, originally left instructions in his will to have Cheeta euthanized after his death because he worried that the 142-pound chimp would wind up in a research lab. His nephew talked him out of that by promising he'd always take care of Cheeta.

Westfall and Abe Karajerjian care for Cheeta and other animals, including orangutans and monkeys, at a house they have nicknamed Casa de Cheeta.

Cheeta spends his time playing with preschool toys, thumbing through magazines including National Geographic and playing the piano. In addition to his old movies, he likes watching Animal Planet and cartoons on television.

Cheeta's handlers hope to sell some of his paintings - which they describe as "Ape-Stract" - to raise money for a sanctuary for homeless primates.