March 10, 2020 • 11 mins
Some of the greatest curiosities come from the animal world, and today's tour features two of them.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Oliver wasn't like everybody else.
(00:30):
From the time he was born in nineteen fifty seven,
he stood up from the pack. Literally. It was his
unique mannerisms that caught the eyes of Frank and Janet
Burger in nineteen seventy. They took Oliver from his home
when he was about thirteen years old and raised him
as one of their own. But some things about Oliver
made them question whether he really was what everyone said
(00:51):
he was. For one, his face was quite flat, and
he had a tendency to walk on two legs rather
than with the aid of his arms. Oliver wasn't human,
but then again, he wasn't supposed to be. Oliver was
a chimpanzee taken from the Congo by a couple of
trainers who had hoped to work with him and study him.
They soon realized that Oliver had been born different from
(01:11):
his fellow apes in the Congo. He didn't use knuckles
when he walked, instead opting to walk by petally. He
stood tall with the shoulders back, just like people. He
also seemed like being with human females more than female chimpanzees,
even attempting to mate with Janet when he was sixteen
years old. It was then the Janet realized Oliver could
(01:32):
no longer stay with them. A couple decided to sell
him to a New York attorney, Michael Miller, who took
the unusual chimpanzee on television all over the world. Oliver
even appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, sipping sherry and
smoking a cigar. He was called things like the Missing
Link and the Human z a human chimp hybrid who
(01:52):
bridged the gap between species. When the television show stopped calling,
Miller gave Oliver to Ralph Helfer, the owner of a
California theme park. Helpher knew his way around training animals.
He had been responsible for training Zamba the Lion, the
roaring mascots of the MGM logo. The theme park didn't
do too well, though, closing up for good only a
(02:12):
year later, but Oliver's career continued to rise. Helpher started
a new attraction called Gentle Jungle, which lasted for a
few years and then closed, just like his last park.
Oliver's popularity, however, never diminished. The Los Angeles Times ran
an investigative piece about the possibility that Oliver could be
an entirely new species of chimpanzee. From there, he was
(02:35):
sold and transferred up and down the West Coast of
various training and research facilities, each one treating Oliver as
nothing more than a side show exhibits. His had become
a life spent either in a cage or in front
of an audience, and things only got worse in nine
when the Bucksher Corporation of Pennsylvania purchased Oliver for their
own nefarious purposes. While he didn't have cosmetics tested on
(03:00):
him like other animals owned by the company, Oliver was
kept in a small cage for almost a decade. He
couldn't move or exercise, which caused his muscles to atrophy.
His freedom finally came in nineteen when the Texas Animal
Sanctuary Primarily Primates petition to have him released. Upon being
transferred from Bucksher to Primarily Primates, Oliver walked out of
(03:22):
his old cage on his two legs and right into
his new open air enclosure, but the troubled chimp's freedom
was only visible to the public, who didn't know what
was going on at his new Texan home. The founder
of Primarily Primates, it seems, Wallace Sweat, was accused of
animal cruelty and mismanagement of funds. The cages where Oliver
and the other apes were being kept had been deemed unsafe.
(03:44):
The facility also lacked a vet on premises, an oversight
that caused in part, the death of another research chimp
by the name of Betty. Sweat was eventually removed from
Primarily Primates. The state of Texas brought in wildlife expert
Lee Feasts and Want to help rehabilitate the facility and
Oliver himself. Her work was instrumental in giving the arthritic
(04:06):
and partially blind Oliver a happy, peaceful rest of his life.
Part of that happiness came in the form of a Raisin,
a female chimpanzee at the primate sanctuary. She helped him
in his final years, as did his caretakers, who allowed
him to participate in numerous chim safe activities around the facility.
He particularly enjoyed painting. Oliver sadly passed away in his
(04:30):
sleep in two thousand twelve, with Raisin by his side.
He was fifty five years old. He had led an
extraordinary life with countless ups and downs. But was he
the missing link everyone thought he was? Could this chimpanzee
with a human like face who walked upright on two
legs and fancied human women really fill in the gap
in our evolutionary history? The Bucksheer Company had asked the
(04:54):
same question back in back when Oliver was still being
housed in their facility. They ran a DNA test to
find the answer, and Oliver turned out to be normal.
He had the standard forty chromosomes that all chimpanzees possessed.
Even though his face looked more human than that of
other chimps, it was not out of the ordinary. Oliver
(05:15):
just wanted to be more like his human counterparts, despite
experiencing the exact opposite of humanity from them. He wasn't
the human z or even the missing link. Oliver was
just a living creature, and he never understood that the
greatest threat to his well being it was us. When
(05:48):
we think of the lasting devastation of World War Two,
we tend to think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two
Japanese cities were leveled when American forces dropped two nuclear bombs,
killing hundreds of thousands of jet and these citizens. After
the Japanese surrendered on August fifteenth of nineteen forty five
and World War Two ended less than a month later,
(06:08):
the use of atomic bombs was studied by military experts
and scholars alike. There had been numerous ethical questions about
unleashing such weapons upon the public. Even J. Robert Oppenheimer,
long regarded as the father of the atomic bomb, baviously
quoted the Bagavadgita when he remarked, now I am become death,
the destroyer of worlds. He understood that as long as
(06:31):
these weapons existed, no one on the planet would be safe.
But the A bomb wasn't the only unethical incendiary device
being developed during the war. There was another smaller bomb
being considered, and just like with the atomic one, Japan
was the primary target. It all started after the attack
on Pearl Harbor on December seventh of ninety one. US
(06:52):
forces were looking for a way to retaliate against Japan,
and they turned to an unlikely source for a solution.
A dentist, Dr. Little S. Adams was more than a dentist,
though he was also an inventor, and he had a
wild idea about how to drop a bomb on almost
every house in Japan without anyone knowing. The key was
their size. Each bomb was tiny, but could do quite
(07:14):
a lot of damage to Japanese homes, which were constructed
mainly of paper and wood. When deployed from a plane.
Parachutes attached to the bombs would allow them to float
safely to the ground and nest in various structures, where
they would wait until the appropriate time, then kaboom. It
was dubbed Project X ray. Adam's plan seemed crazy at
(07:35):
the time, but his friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
gave him the clearance to build a team to test
it out. Louis Freezer, an organic chemist and inventor of napalm,
came on board and was instrumental in designing the bombs themselves.
He started by filling the gun cotton case with kerosene.
Then he attached a small timed fuse and a trigger
that could fire when the timer ran out. Initial tests
(07:58):
were a surprising sect says, in some cases too successful.
Several bombs were launched accidentally which destroyed a hangar, a
fuel tank, and a general's car. The method of deployment
required further adjustments to make sure each bomb made it
to its destination without going off too early. The Marine
Corps pushed Freezer, Adams and their team back to hard work.
(08:20):
One million bombs were commissioned to be dropped on Japan
as soon as they were ready. However, despite working around
the clock to get everything perfect, there was a competition
heating up with the folks at Los Alamos. Oppenheimer and
the other scientists behind the A Bomb a k a.
The Manhattan Project were on the verge of a breakthrough.
Since both projects were scheduled to be completed around the
(08:40):
same time, and the small bombs had already cost the
military upwards of two million dollars, project x ray was scrapped.
The costs weren't the only factor hindering x rays development.
In order for the bombs to find their way into
Japanese homes and buildings, they needed to be placed there.
Remember this was long before the age of computer guy
in systems and heat seeking missiles, so more organic methods
(09:04):
were considered. Dr Adam's original plan hinged on one important factor,
a factor that could fly into buildings and carry double
its own weight. Project X Ray, the U s military's
cutting edge weapon, depended on a secret tool bats, thousands
and thousands of bats. The bombs you see were tied
(09:25):
to the bats with wire. When lifted, the weight of
each bat would trigger the fuse as it flew into
a home and nested in its attic or roof. Prior
to deployment in Japan, the tiny flyers would be tucked
into ice cube trays and cooled into a deep sleep
so that they could be transported safely from the United States.
Once over Japan, B twenty fours would drop thousands of
(09:46):
bats at a time, all of which had been placed
into bomb shaped capsules. Parachutes would then float them safely
to the ground, where the containers would open, releasing the
creatures into Japanese cities to hide and wait. But the
project was both financially and ethically a failure. But they
weren't the only ones to consider such a method. Coincidentally,
(10:07):
British forces were also experimenting with animal based explosives around
the same time. Instead of bats, though they chose to
shove explosives into another type of creature and leave them
near German boiler rooms. A belief was that the Germans
would get rid of the animals by tossing them into
the boilers, which would set off the explosion and cause destruction.
(10:29):
And what was their choice of animal dead? Rats? I
hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
(10:51):
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious, Yeah,
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Oliver wasn't like everybody else.
(00:30):
From the time he was born in nineteen fifty seven,
he stood up from the pack. Literally. It was his
unique mannerisms that caught the eyes of Frank and Janet
Burger in nineteen seventy. They took Oliver from his home
when he was about thirteen years old and raised him
as one of their own. But some things about Oliver
made them question whether he really was what everyone said
(00:51):
he was. For one, his face was quite flat, and
he had a tendency to walk on two legs rather
than with the aid of his arms. Oliver wasn't human,
but then again, he wasn't supposed to be. Oliver was
a chimpanzee taken from the Congo by a couple of
trainers who had hoped to work with him and study him.
They soon realized that Oliver had been born different from
(01:11):
his fellow apes in the Congo. He didn't use knuckles
when he walked, instead opting to walk by petally. He
stood tall with the shoulders back, just like people. He
also seemed like being with human females more than female chimpanzees,
even attempting to mate with Janet when he was sixteen
years old. It was then the Janet realized Oliver could
(01:32):
no longer stay with them. A couple decided to sell
him to a New York attorney, Michael Miller, who took
the unusual chimpanzee on television all over the world. Oliver
even appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, sipping sherry and
smoking a cigar. He was called things like the Missing
Link and the Human z a human chimp hybrid who
(01:52):
bridged the gap between species. When the television show stopped calling,
Miller gave Oliver to Ralph Helfer, the owner of a
California theme park. Helpher knew his way around training animals.
He had been responsible for training Zamba the Lion, the
roaring mascots of the MGM logo. The theme park didn't
do too well, though, closing up for good only a
(02:12):
year later, but Oliver's career continued to rise. Helpher started
a new attraction called Gentle Jungle, which lasted for a
few years and then closed, just like his last park.
Oliver's popularity, however, never diminished. The Los Angeles Times ran
an investigative piece about the possibility that Oliver could be
an entirely new species of chimpanzee. From there, he was
(02:35):
sold and transferred up and down the West Coast of
various training and research facilities, each one treating Oliver as
nothing more than a side show exhibits. His had become
a life spent either in a cage or in front
of an audience, and things only got worse in nine
when the Bucksher Corporation of Pennsylvania purchased Oliver for their
own nefarious purposes. While he didn't have cosmetics tested on
(03:00):
him like other animals owned by the company, Oliver was
kept in a small cage for almost a decade. He
couldn't move or exercise, which caused his muscles to atrophy.
His freedom finally came in nineteen when the Texas Animal
Sanctuary Primarily Primates petition to have him released. Upon being
transferred from Bucksher to Primarily Primates, Oliver walked out of
(03:22):
his old cage on his two legs and right into
his new open air enclosure, but the troubled chimp's freedom
was only visible to the public, who didn't know what
was going on at his new Texan home. The founder
of Primarily Primates, it seems, Wallace Sweat, was accused of
animal cruelty and mismanagement of funds. The cages where Oliver
and the other apes were being kept had been deemed unsafe.
(03:44):
The facility also lacked a vet on premises, an oversight
that caused in part, the death of another research chimp
by the name of Betty. Sweat was eventually removed from
Primarily Primates. The state of Texas brought in wildlife expert
Lee Feasts and Want to help rehabilitate the facility and
Oliver himself. Her work was instrumental in giving the arthritic
(04:06):
and partially blind Oliver a happy, peaceful rest of his life.
Part of that happiness came in the form of a Raisin,
a female chimpanzee at the primate sanctuary. She helped him
in his final years, as did his caretakers, who allowed
him to participate in numerous chim safe activities around the facility.
He particularly enjoyed painting. Oliver sadly passed away in his
(04:30):
sleep in two thousand twelve, with Raisin by his side.
He was fifty five years old. He had led an
extraordinary life with countless ups and downs. But was he
the missing link everyone thought he was? Could this chimpanzee
with a human like face who walked upright on two
legs and fancied human women really fill in the gap
in our evolutionary history? The Bucksheer Company had asked the
(04:54):
same question back in back when Oliver was still being
housed in their facility. They ran a DNA test to
find the answer, and Oliver turned out to be normal.
He had the standard forty chromosomes that all chimpanzees possessed.
Even though his face looked more human than that of
other chimps, it was not out of the ordinary. Oliver
(05:15):
just wanted to be more like his human counterparts, despite
experiencing the exact opposite of humanity from them. He wasn't
the human z or even the missing link. Oliver was
just a living creature, and he never understood that the
greatest threat to his well being it was us. When
(05:48):
we think of the lasting devastation of World War Two,
we tend to think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two
Japanese cities were leveled when American forces dropped two nuclear bombs,
killing hundreds of thousands of jet and these citizens. After
the Japanese surrendered on August fifteenth of nineteen forty five
and World War Two ended less than a month later,
(06:08):
the use of atomic bombs was studied by military experts
and scholars alike. There had been numerous ethical questions about
unleashing such weapons upon the public. Even J. Robert Oppenheimer,
long regarded as the father of the atomic bomb, baviously
quoted the Bagavadgita when he remarked, now I am become death,
the destroyer of worlds. He understood that as long as
(06:31):
these weapons existed, no one on the planet would be safe.
But the A bomb wasn't the only unethical incendiary device
being developed during the war. There was another smaller bomb
being considered, and just like with the atomic one, Japan
was the primary target. It all started after the attack
on Pearl Harbor on December seventh of ninety one. US
(06:52):
forces were looking for a way to retaliate against Japan,
and they turned to an unlikely source for a solution.
A dentist, Dr. Little S. Adams was more than a dentist,
though he was also an inventor, and he had a
wild idea about how to drop a bomb on almost
every house in Japan without anyone knowing. The key was
their size. Each bomb was tiny, but could do quite
(07:14):
a lot of damage to Japanese homes, which were constructed
mainly of paper and wood. When deployed from a plane.
Parachutes attached to the bombs would allow them to float
safely to the ground and nest in various structures, where
they would wait until the appropriate time, then kaboom. It
was dubbed Project X ray. Adam's plan seemed crazy at
(07:35):
the time, but his friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
gave him the clearance to build a team to test
it out. Louis Freezer, an organic chemist and inventor of napalm,
came on board and was instrumental in designing the bombs themselves.
He started by filling the gun cotton case with kerosene.
Then he attached a small timed fuse and a trigger
that could fire when the timer ran out. Initial tests
(07:58):
were a surprising sect says, in some cases too successful.
Several bombs were launched accidentally which destroyed a hangar, a
fuel tank, and a general's car. The method of deployment
required further adjustments to make sure each bomb made it
to its destination without going off too early. The Marine
Corps pushed Freezer, Adams and their team back to hard work.
(08:20):
One million bombs were commissioned to be dropped on Japan
as soon as they were ready. However, despite working around
the clock to get everything perfect, there was a competition
heating up with the folks at Los Alamos. Oppenheimer and
the other scientists behind the A Bomb a k a.
The Manhattan Project were on the verge of a breakthrough.
Since both projects were scheduled to be completed around the
(08:40):
same time, and the small bombs had already cost the
military upwards of two million dollars, project x ray was scrapped.
The costs weren't the only factor hindering x rays development.
In order for the bombs to find their way into
Japanese homes and buildings, they needed to be placed there.
Remember this was long before the age of computer guy
in systems and heat seeking missiles, so more organic methods
(09:04):
were considered. Dr Adam's original plan hinged on one important factor,
a factor that could fly into buildings and carry double
its own weight. Project X Ray, the U s military's
cutting edge weapon, depended on a secret tool bats, thousands
and thousands of bats. The bombs you see were tied
(09:25):
to the bats with wire. When lifted, the weight of
each bat would trigger the fuse as it flew into
a home and nested in its attic or roof. Prior
to deployment in Japan, the tiny flyers would be tucked
into ice cube trays and cooled into a deep sleep
so that they could be transported safely from the United States.
Once over Japan, B twenty fours would drop thousands of
(09:46):
bats at a time, all of which had been placed
into bomb shaped capsules. Parachutes would then float them safely
to the ground, where the containers would open, releasing the
creatures into Japanese cities to hide and wait. But the
project was both financially and ethically a failure. But they
weren't the only ones to consider such a method. Coincidentally,
(10:07):
British forces were also experimenting with animal based explosives around
the same time. Instead of bats, though they chose to
shove explosives into another type of creature and leave them
near German boiler rooms. A belief was that the Germans
would get rid of the animals by tossing them into
the boilers, which would set off the explosion and cause destruction.
(10:29):
And what was their choice of animal dead? Rats? I
hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
(10:51):
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious, Yeah,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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