Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Experts say peer pressure is a major reason people take up smoking. Charlie, a chimp at the Bloemfontein Zoo in South Africa, may be another victim.

"When he sees people smoking outside his enclosure, he begs for a cigarette," Daryl Barnes, the zoo's senior nature conservator, explained in an e-mail. After a visitor tosses one his way, he "has a few puffs" while sitting on the grass or a stump.

In his 15 years at the zoo, Barnes has seen Charlie smoke about five times. But this may be only because Charlie is sneaky. When caught by zookeepers, Charlie throws the cigarette down, "grins at us, bobs his head and tries to lure us away from the cigarette on the ground," Barnes said.

The zoo thinks that the habit started back when Charlie was part of a Dallas-based circus.

So far, "no signs of addiction, or withdrawal, have ever been noticed," said Barnes. But "we are looking at a series of measures to prevent the public from throwing food or cigarettes into his enclosure."