Strolling on the railing

June 14, 2013 1:56 PM

Why walk on a bridge when the rope railing is much more fun?

A lar gibbon makes use of those flexible feet to walk across a suspension bridge railing at Monkeyland.

posted by filthy light thief (28 comments total)

GO HOME, GIBBON
YOU'RE DRUNK!
Did I do that right?
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:59 PM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Gibbon plays with Tigers
posted by homunculus at 2:06 PM on June 14, 2013 [7 favorites]

Same reason walking on the curb is more fun than walking on the pavement: You can pretend that you're a monorail.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:10 PM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]

I've never thought about it before but monkeys have tiny, flat butts (lol).
posted by 2bucksplus at 2:16 PM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

Needs the other four members of the Furious Five and also Tai Lung and also a kung fu battle, but not bad I guess
posted by mightygodking at 2:47 PM on June 14, 2013

Fuck you showoff monkey. Can you post worthless drive-by comments on Metafilter? Yeah, I thought not.
posted by Keith Talent at 2:57 PM on June 14, 2013 [7 favorites]

The FPP is hilarious, and the tiger video is a complete riot. Holy shit gibbons are awesome.
posted by nevercalm at 2:59 PM on June 14, 2013

"Suck it, haters! I'm a gibbon!"

*gives zero fucks*
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:14 PM on June 14, 2013

I'm not unhappy with my life or anything but next time around I think that I'd just as soon be a gibbon.
posted by leftcoastbob at 3:34 PM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]

Monkey on Wire
posted by whyareyouatriangle at 3:42 PM on June 14, 2013

What's interesting is the weird mixture of unimaginable sure-footedness (from a human perspective) in its ability to do this and the all-too-human arm-flailing it indulges in. Any human who reached that degree of arm waving would be a split second from disaster.
posted by yoink at 3:56 PM on June 14, 2013

I don't know what it says about me, or about society in general, but my attention span lasted exactly half that video. And I am a supporter of monkey hijinx in all its myriad guises.
posted by Kafkaesque at 4:17 PM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

DEAR SHOWBOATING, SHOWOFF GIBBON, YOU CAN JUST WALK ON THE BRIDGE.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:21 PM on June 14, 2013

Gibbon Declines to Fall; Roamin' Emperor!
posted by chavenet at 4:28 PM on June 14, 2013 [8 favorites]

ANIMAL ENDANGERMENT!
posted by QueerAngel28 at 4:30 PM on June 14, 2013

I bet it's easier for that gibbon to walk on the rope because of how their feet work. If you look closely, it's grasping the rope with its feet as it goes along. That's what they do on tree branches normally.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:32 PM on June 14, 2013

I've never thought about it before but monkeys have tiny, flat butts (lol).

Monkey Butts!
posted by TrolleyOffTheTracks at 4:36 PM on June 14, 2013

Gibbons are not actually monkeys, but are in fact lesser apes!
posted by ChuraChura at 5:34 PM on June 14, 2013

Aha. Thank you.
posted by TrolleyOffTheTracks at 5:45 PM on June 14, 2013

Wait. ChuraChura, Occupation: monkey chaser. Of course.
posted by TrolleyOffTheTracks at 5:49 PM on June 14, 2013

I love when he loses his balance at the end and sits on the rope and he's all like, "what? i totally meant to do that."
posted by Cocodrillo at 6:18 PM on June 14, 2013

Gibbon plays with children.
posted by Casimir at 7:24 PM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]

The ape on the simple suspension bridge is named Andy Lewis. The simple suspension bridge community is pretty proud of the ape for representing what we do to the public. It was not a suspension bridge or a rope railing. It is called a simple suspension bridge.
posted by euphorb at 8:49 PM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've watched that gibbon cross that bridge before. Monkeyland is great place to visit.
posted by Goofyy at 4:29 AM on June 15, 2013

Humans do this too, for sport. We call it slacklining. ...and for a less flashy version of slacklining, here's a more gibbon-like expression.
posted by sibboleth at 12:58 PM on June 15, 2013

He makes me want opposable toes!
posted by deborah at 4:24 PM on June 15, 2013

Man, in the one video with the kids, all I could think was "yup, shit-hot acrobat, strong and agile as hell, cute with the wee ones until it tears their faces off and then runs up a tree only to dangle their faces just out of arms' reach."
posted by nevercalm at 1:41 PM on June 16, 2013

Gibbons are one of my favorites. Have a video where a baby gibbon plays with an orangutan baby, and then teases some otters until Mom or Dad decide it's time to come home.
posted by tavella at 2:17 PM on June 17, 2013 [2 favorites]