• Continued use of chimpanzees in Super Bowl ads raises concern for some

    By Robert Hood

    This video grab provided by CareerBuilder.com, shows the executive chimpanzee advertisement that will air during Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, 2012.  Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo says there's nothing funny about a commercial featuring suit-and-tie wearing chimpanzees. Dr. Steven Ross of the zoo says CareerBuilder.com's commercial that shows the chimps outsmarting a human co-worker actually poses a risk to chimpanzees because people lose sight of the fact they're an endangered species and are less likely to try to save them.

    CareerBuilder.com / AP

    I’m the first to admit that Career Builder’s chimpanzee advertisements are funny, but then the reality of the animals’ lives and their continued population decline hits me. I’m beginning to wonder if the tide is turning on the ethics of using what should be wild animals for commercial purposes.

    If our society struggles to be okay with using these animals for medical testing (see the Rock Center video below) then where should we be on this?

    Ken and Rosie are 30-year-old chimpanzees that were born in research labs and have spent most of their lives in labs dedicated to finding cures for human diseases. The use of chimpanzees in invasive medical research has long been debated. Primatologists like Jane Goodall argue against the use of chimpanzees in medical research, while some researchers say testing is crucial and has saved human lives. Lisa Myers reports.

    See the Youtube clips below to see Career Builder’s past Super Bowl ads.

    CareerBuilder.com ads

  • A six day old chimpanzee

    Radovan Stoklasa / Reuters

    A six-day-old female baby chimpanzee clings to her mother Uschi at the Bratislava Zoo in Slovakia on March 16. The young chimpanzee is the first to be born in the ape house which was opened in 2010 and is also the first chimpanzee born in Bratislava Zoo since 1990 when her mother Uschi delivered her first offspring, a male named Samko.

    Samuel Kubani / AFP - Getty Images

    A six-day-old female baby chimpanzee clings to her mother Uschi at the Bratislava Zoo in Slovakia on March 16.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    It seems like almost every week a new baby animal comes along and raises the stakes in our unofficial Cutest Thing Ever contest. Which is your favorite?