Banksy seems to prefer monkeys to other animals (such as rats) when he wants to explore something more human or more literal. One of his most pervasive monkey stencils has a blank slate around its neck and has featured all kinds of curious slogans. He has also used a monkey as part of a ‘self-portrait’ and has even portrayed the Queen of England as a monkey. As ‘almost human’ his monkeys become an opportunity to deride the human race or show baser and more instinctual sides of humanity.