If A Monkey Made you a Sandwich, would you eat it ?

[veganwitch]

I would eat half of the sandwich (if it was vegan) and give the other half to the monkey. I'd worry that if I didn't eat the sandwich I would hurt the monkey's feelings.

I asked my husband the same question and he wanted to know if the monkey had washed his hands. Provided that was the case, he'd eat the sandwich too.

[howdawg]

I'd like to think that the whole thing is real but the romantic gesture of holding a flower is just a little too much over the top for me.

If you watch some of the other videos, you can almost see the trainer moving the trunk of the elephant.. I'm not convinced either way, mostly because I want it to be true I suppose.. haha

[Mahk]

The trainer off to the elephant's left side is the supposedly only there as the brush exchanger. I never thought that he was manipulating the trunk directly but this is the only video I've seen. Other ways I thought to do this trick, if it is a trick, would be if the elephant had a cheat sheet out of view of the spectators that the trainer is holding up or is behind some obstruction so we don't see it. All the elephant knows is if it replicates the meaningless squiggles it sees, it gets a reward. The elephant has no idea that the image has meaning to us. Another method would be similar to if one person draws on another (blind) person's open palm, say, letters or in this case brush strokes. The trainer could be remote controlling the trunk by drawing brush strokes on the left ear which we can't see.

I still find the dexterity simply amazing and I'd like to think the elephant is drawing its fantasy of some day being freed and returning to the wild which is represented by the flower. I hate seeing animals being kept in captivity.

[snivelingchild]

if the elephant had a cheat sheet out of view of the spectators that the trainer is holding up or is behind some obstruction so we don't see it.

Or, they had him copy a similar painting prior, and just trained him to repeat the same image later.

Wait, why am I even speculating on this? I don't even care...

[soilman]

I'm slightly new here- finally decided to give up milk and eggs for lent, followed by other, 'hidden' animal byproducts once I have the hang of the first. Is this the ideal way to go, or should I give it all up cold turkey ? I've been a vegetarian for most of my life, I ate chicken until I was eight, then gave it up. I'm now fifteen, so meat is absolutely no issue to me.

I have had a recurring mental question though. It involves a small scenario that requires a bit of explination so stay with me... I have a friend who owns a small farm, with hens and such running around freely and happily. He asked me a few days ago why I would give up all eggs, when he would gladly sell me some actual freerange eggs, none of that meat industry blasphemy. When I told him that the philosophy of veganism was that animals do not exist for our uses, and to not accept food that comes from them. He asked me "Well... if a monkey made you a sandwich, would you eat it?" I thought that was funny and replied that i would, in fact eat it, if it did not contain any animal products, but it made me think...

How is eating the monkey's sandwich any more ethical than a free-range chicken's egg? If anything it's less ethical- the monkey might want that sandwich for later, while the chicken has no use for its unfertalized egg.

Sorry for my strange question, just wanted some input.

x

The reason that a chicken has "no use" for an unfertilized egg is that it produces an actually sickening (to the mother hen) number of eggs, due to the fact that modern chicken cultivars used by people for egg production, have been bred for a pathologically high level of egg production, at the expense of overall well-being. Essentially, every chicken has a genetic "disorder" of excessive egg production, that it was given intentionally, by humans. I would guess that most likely no such chickens could survive in the wild, as their natural foods do not contain enough calcium to support the high number of eggs they secrete. I would guess that their bones would simply become too weak, as the result of osteoporosis, to be of practical use to them in the wild, and they would become sickly and die before producing viable eggs (with adequate shells to support a chick), and reproducing. All chickens are so far removed from their wild ancestors, that zoologoists can make educated guesses at what that wild ancestor was, but don't know for sure. The very existence of the human-selected chicken species is the problem that needs our attention, not the act of taking their eggs, or eating them. By consuming chicken eggs and becoming accustomed to consuming chicken eggs, we take part in the industry of continued intentional breeding of misery and suffering. I believe it is best to continue controlling chicken breeding, that is, keeping males and females apart, as is usually done (except when intenional breeding is being supervised), continue supporting the existing chickens, but not allowing, not forcing, generation after generation of suffering to continue.

[twinkle toes]

i think i would be sceptical unless i actually saw the monkey make the sandwich right in front of me. although it definitely sounds unhygenic anyway, so it's a 'no'

[Stig]

I love this question! I'd say yes (obvisouly providing it was vegan and meant for me)

[leedsveg]

If the said monkey had toasted the sandwich, that would have made it a griller.

I'll get my coat...

lv

[harpy]

Grooooan!

Twinkle Toes, that might be a bit species-ist. What if the monkey washed his or her hands first?

[twinkle toes]

yeah but it would be like accepting a sandwich from a naked man! (which i totally would not do either)

[harpy]

Hmm, I must admit I hadn't considered that situation. Something new to feel neurotic about...But as I often eat dinner with a cat on my lap I'd probably risk it (the monkey, not sure about the naked man )

[aubergine]

Does the monkey have union representation?

[leedsveg]

..and is there fair pay? Or does the monkey only work for peanuts?

coat/again

leedsveg

[megrainbows]

I'd eat the sandwich if the monkey freely offered it to me, if the monkey was happy and free and not forced.

[Adena]

Prob say the same as others, if the monkey had decided to make it of it's own accord and then wanted me to eat it I may do, and obviously with the sandwich being vegan, although I'm not sure on the whole hygiene thing! Any other sort of training monkeys to do things for you though I wouldn't ever support, like that restaurant in (Japan??) which uses monkey's instead of men to be the waiters. Seriously, what is wrong with the world.
Although yeah - if the monkey made your lunch, it's only fair you make it's dinner :P

[inspiredbykittens]

I would eat half of the sandwich (if it was vegan) and give the other half to the monkey. I'd worry that if I didn't eat the sandwich I would hurt the monkey's feelings.
.

I agree! I have been waiting to see this answer and was going to say this myself if it hadn't already been said.

I think it would be very nice of the monkey to come over to my house and make me a sammy, especially if he used my leftover fried eggplant in the fridge. I would certainly offer him half and make sure he takes a bite first though, I am not sure I trust this monkey 100% just yet. He could be trying to poison me to get back at humans for all the unnecessary torture his kind have endured at the hands of humans.

If he was super nice and not poisoning me, I would give him a banana.

[colleengirl95]

If the monkey made a vegan sandwich then i would probably eat it... i think it needs lettuce. Reminds me of Steven, The Vegan

[rrqu]

Unless the monkey figured out that I only eat my sandwiches toasted, no.

As for the egg thing, when you take a hen's eggs away, it feels the need to create more, to replace the ones that were lost. Eggs smell bad, anyway.