Dr. Seuss's shocking predictions in 'The Lorax' are proving true
The fate of the patas monkey
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MOVIES The lorax
When Dr. Seuss went to write 'The Lorax' in the 1970s, he was stricken with writer's block. Knowing he wanted to tell a story about environmental protection and conservation, he headed to Africa to get inspired by a natural world outside of his own.
A recent study, that was published in the scientific journal Nature, argued that the famed author must have spotted a rare monkey breed in Kenya, that through his imagination became 'The Lorax.'
Nathaniel Dominy, an anthropologist and evolutionary biologist at Dartmouth College, stated that "We think Dr. Seuss created the Lorax, through inspiration, by seeing the patas monkey." He explained that the monkey "just looks like a Seuss character. The resemblance is striking." Similar to the real patas monkey, the Lorax has a distinctive mustache and orange coat.
Even more ironically, the current environmental condition that the patas monkey's face in Kenya is similar to the plot of the Dr. Seuss novel. Due to a decline in rainfall and other environmental shifts, the trees that the patas monkeys feed on are growing bare. Not just this breed of monkey, but many species in Kenya are having to figure out ways to adapt.
The authors of the study wrote, "such findings suggest that we are witnessing a prophetic example of life imitating art imitating life."