Today I learned about Signalman Jack, a chacma baboon who was employed by the Cape Town Railway Service in South Africa. He was the assistant of James “Jumper” Wide, who was a switch operator until he jumped between two moving railway cars (hence the nickname) and lost both his legs. James taught his baboon Jack how to operate the switches, and everything was going great until a railway passenger reported to the company that a baboon was switching the tracks. After a brief (and I’m sure hilarious) investigation, it was determined that Jack did, in fact, know what he was doing. He was then officially employed by the railway and paid 20 cents a day, plus a half-bottle of beer each week.
In nine years of working for the railroad, Jack didn’t make a single mistake.