Maybe they should stop piping Barry White music in there....

Surprise birth has chimp sanctuary checking vasectomies

In a culture that puts way too high a premium on youth, that's quite refreshing. Good for you, Teresa!

Vasectomies don't always work or so I've been told. According to this article:

Since you are not sterile after your vasectomy, temporary male birth control is needed. At least 2 and sometimes more semen analyses are needed to confirm no moving sperm are present. Testing typically takes place at two months and then three months after your vasectomy procedure. If the 3 month test shows no sperm then the patient is cleared to return to have unprotected intercourse.

How would you want to perform that job on a bunch of chimps? How would you describe your responsibilities on an application for another job?

The article also states:

The incidence of vasectomy failure is estimated between .5% and 1% and varies with the skill and experience of the doctor and with the approach used to block the tubes. It is for this reason that testing semen samples is essential.

Of course, these are figures for human vasectomy. I don't know (and don't want to know) the failure rates for chimps.

What amazed me when the surgeon warned me of the need to be careful at first was the fact that the severed tubes could actually grow back together. My understanding is that they are cut and kind of hidden from each other a bit. So for it to fail, they have to somehow come back into proximity, THEN grow back togeteher.

How do they "know" to do that?

Remember the scene in Woody Allen's Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask where all the little dudes were lined up like paratroopers? Some of the lines in that scene were hilarious, and pretty out there for their time.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

The knowledge is in your DNA and in every cell...somewhere; somehow. The two ends just have to re-orient themselves; figure out where in the "plan" they fit together.

Easier said than done, but it can happen...evidently.

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PW -- Plant Whisperer

I live right next to this Chimp Haven, I've been there a couple of times, it's pretty cool. While I was there about 6-7 months ago I saw one of the chimps mount another one, but the sexual interaction only lasted about 5-8 seconds. Who knows, maybe I witnessed this cenception. A chimpanzee's gestation period is around 7 months. I doubt it though.

I've always heard that vasectomies aren't very reliable, so this doesn't really suprise me. Its really not that news-worthy it seems.

At least you can't blame this one on the milkman....

- Maha "monkey business" Vailo

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When you get down to it, Science answers how. Religion answers why. - hippietrekx