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Yes, yes OK this is very weird, but it's also really quite amazing. Imagine 2001 A Space Odyssey meets Planet of the Apes meets Gorillas in the Mist (except with chimpanzees obviously) and add a remote control unit, and you're nearly there. This fully animatronic and emotiotronic Chimpanzee Head is decidedly weird at first, but it didn't take any time at all before we'd all become very fond of him. He's the first domestic version of a Hollywood special effects creation and boy is he lifelike.

He comes with a remote control that bristles with knobs and gives you enormous control over him. Aside from direct control though, he's an extremely responsive, highly intelligent "primate" whose artificial intelligence, emotional awareness system and multi-sensory features allow him to interact with his environment. He has 4 distinctive moods; happy, playful, fearful and aggressive, which change in response to human interaction. When you first turn him on he will go straight into Curious mode, then proceed into Alive mode detecting what is going on around him - even following movement in front of him using the infrared sensors in his eyes. His different modes determine his reactions to you, and his emotions change as a direct result of his treatment. Flicking him makes him 'Angry', flinches and sharp sounds make him 'Fearful', strokes and tickles make him 'Happy' (he chuckles enchantingly when you tickle him under the chin). When left alone he re-enters default Curious mode.

Direct control of the Chimp is activated using the RC unit, which will take him out of Alive mode and into your hands. You can then use animation buttons (for his lips and eyebrows for instance), control his sounds and use the joysticks to move him - you can even program up to 20 moves into him to re-play at the touch of a button. When you're done, pop him into Guard mode and he'll guard his space, looking around him and behind from time to time.

So yes he's deeply strange, but people crowd round him and stroke him and squeal and clap when he reacts to them - bit like Robbie Williams come to think of it (but with less tattoos and considerably less talent, and more hair, and fewer limbs, this analogy's falling apart before our eyes). So despite his inherent oddness and having no body, he's the most advanced and remarkable Chimp that you're ever likely to meet outside of a Hollywood movie. We'd never given much though to our (almost) nearest relative before, but it's made us all strangely fond of Chimps now. Go figure.

Features

We can wrap your purchases and add a hand written Gift Tag with a message of your choice for just £3.95.

Once you have added items to your shopping cart, you can choose to add gift wrapping. When in the Check-Out, you can pick the type of paper you like, whether you would like to wrap items singly, or all together, and you can also type in your own personal message, which we will hand write into a Gift Tag for you.

Hover your mouse over the gift boxes below to see a close-up of each pattern.