What would happen if monkeys ruled the world?

The world as we know it is under threat, and not from any ordinary foe. The revolution has begun, but it's not led by brute strength or violence. This time, it's the primates that have outsmarted humankind once and for all. The sound of music echoes through the streets as the monkeys take over. It's their planet now.

But how intelligent would monkeys need to be to take over? What daily threats would exist for a human like you, and would a monkey planet be more peaceful than our own? These are some of the questions that we explore in this edition of "What If," where we imagine a world where monkeys have taken over.

Millions of years ago, primates evolved into different species, including prosimians like lemurs and tarsiers, monkeys like capuchins and cats, and apes like gorillas and chimpanzees. As humans, we share a common ancestor with other primates and 98.6% of our DNA with chimpanzees. While humans may be the most intelligent monkey, other primates are clever too. They can communicate, recognize family, and use tools.

What if tomorrow, instead of running experiments on monkeys, they started running experiments on you? If monkeys took over the planet, it would be a revolution led by highly intelligent primates. These would be either transgenic monkeys or ones enhanced with brain implants. For those wondering, transgenic monkeys are artificially created monkeys that carry a human gene. If these smart monkeys escaped research facilities into areas with high populations of non-modified monkeys, it could spell trouble for us. One hotspot would be Lopbury, Thailand, where thousands of monkeys live on city streets, and there are even several no-go zones that have been taken over by rival monkey gangs. Another would be Florida's Silver Spring State Park, where there's a thriving population of macaques, likely descendants of theme park escapees. Hyper-intelligent monkeys could train these populations in the best ways to wage war on humans.

If you live in Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, your country might be one of the first to fall. That's because 65% of all primate species live in these places. If you're in Europe, you'd be safe because there are no wild native primates. However, humans fleeing armies of monkeys to a safe zone would create a devastating refugee crisis.

But how exactly would monkeys be able to pull off a revolution against humans? Communication would be a key part of their strategy. Societal roles would have to be delegated based on different levels of intelligence. Apes like chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos are among the smartest, so they would play prominent roles in the uprising. Orangutans are also highly intelligent and could manufacture weapons. They are known to be more capable than children of making tools, such as fishing hooks. If they learned how to make spears, they could attack us from the ground and above, and we would have a real fight on our hands. Orangutans have another remarkable ability - they are the only known non-human primates that can communicate about the past. They would use this intellectual skill to observe us and then signal our movements to other monkeys once we were gone.

Monkeys would communicate with visual clues, auditory calls, and olfactory signals. It would be hard for us to keep up, and it would take time to learn their ways. Unfortunately, monkey society would likely be as dangerous as our own, perhaps even more so. Chimpanzees have been observed to invade the territories of other chimpanzee groups systematically, killing other primates for food. In 1974, scientist Dr. Jane Goodall witnessed intergroup violence that she described as a war that annihilated an entire community. Monkeys would likely form complex social hierarchies and engage in power struggles, just like humans. However, with their enhanced intelligence and physical capabilities, they would pose a greater threat to us than any other species on the planet. The key to avoiding a catastrophic conflict with primates is to treat them with respect and to work towards peaceful coexistence, while also acknowledging the dangers that they could pose if they were to turn against us.

Let's hope the intelligent monkeys come to us in peace and that we can learn to coexist with them without violence or conflict. However, if the worst were to happen and primates did overthrow humanity, it's important to remember that we have a responsibility to treat all species with respect and kindness, and to work towards a more sustainable and equitable world. Only by acknowledging and addressing our past mistakes can we hope to build a better future for ourselves and all the other inhabitants of our planet.