Irish the capuchin monkey came to the Zoo in 1927, when he was about four years old, and he was a favorite among visitors and staff alike. Keepers said that clever was his middle name—and that he was an outlandish and unabashed flirt. When visitors came to see him, he would lean back, cross his arms across his chest, and wrinkle his forehead up and down, while gazing intently at his audience with sparkling eyes. Then he would strike a pose, tilt his head right and left, bury his face in his arms, and look up coyly with one eye. His audience melted—and he usually got a treat out of it.

Zoo director Belle Benchley described Irish as “one big bundle of personality. His antics never cease to amuse the public, nor does the public ever cease to amuse Irish. He’s greedy and selfish and at times displays a most uncontrollable temper, but he has a heart-warming smile and can turn on enough charm to live up to the name ‘The Flirt.’” Associate editor Jacqueline Schermerhorn wrote, “He has an absolutely engaging personality. You can’t help but love him….there isn’t a person alive that can resist this furry little creature with an elastic forehead, a toothy grin, an infectious squeal.” Irish fathered 23 offspring over the years, and he lived to be more than 40 years old. Is it possible that flirting really can keep you young?