Wild Vervet Monkeys Wreak Havoc in Kenya

tags: , , , , , ,

A young vervet monkey, Chlorocebus pygerythrus.

Image: shashamane.

If you live in the small village of Nachu in Kenya, watch out, because a group of approximately 300 marauding monkeys is out to steal your food, sexually harass your women and attack and kill your livestock! In a truly amazing incidence of interspecies communication, a group of vervet monkeys, Chlorocebus pygerythrus, is using sexual harassment to intimidate women and children, who are responsible for growing maize, potatoes, beans and other crops for their farming community, causing them to lose their main food supply so they now are dependent upon famine relief to survive.

The monkeys are more afraid of young men than women and children, with the bolder individuals throwing stones and chasing the women from their farms. In an attempt to scare the monkeys away, the women are now wearing their husband's clothing, but the wily monkeys are not fooled.

"When we come to chase the monkeys away, we are dressed in trousers and hats, so that we look like men," said Nachu resident Lucy Njeri. "But the monkeys can tell the difference and they don't run away from us and point at our breasts. They just ignore us and continue to steal the crops."

Further, the monkeys also make sexually explicit gestures at the women, according to the residents.

"The monkeys grab their breasts, and gesture at us while pointing at their private parts. We are afraid that they will sexually harass us," said Njeri.

While it was not unusual for the monkeys to harass the women and be less afraid of them than they are of the men, according to the Kenyan Wildlife Service, the service had never before heard of monkeys making sexually explicit gestures as a form of communication to humans. Yet, despite their new problems with the monkeys, it is a criminal offence to harm or kill any of them, so the besieged villagers must instead figure out a way to outwit the monkeys without harming them.

Unfortunately, the monkeys have even been killing the residents' livestock and dogs, evading traps and avoiding poisoned food. The residents are now harvesting their crops early in an attempt to salvage what they can, however, the monkeys are now breaking in to the residents' houses to steal their food. The residents even formed a "monkey squad" that consists of men who track the monkeys' movements, but there simply are not enough people available to do the job adequately. Further, the monkeys have their own sentinals that keep watch on the residents, giving warning when they are approaching so the monkeys can escape.

I wonder why this is occurring all of a sudden? I'd guess this is the result of human encroachment into the monkeys' former territory or perhaps a local food shortage, perhaps caused by the residents. And the "sexually explicit gestures" seem to be a spin-off of what the monkeys normally use to form their own social structure, or perhaps this behavior was learned by watching their human neighbors. Also, didn't HIV originate in the green monkey, Chlorocebus sabaeus, which is a close relative of the vervet monkey? It kind of makes you wonder what might happen to the people if enough of them are bitten or .. otherwise abused .. by these monkeys?

Sources

BBCNews (quotes)

shashamane (image)

More like this

Clearly, this moral decay is the result of Darwinism.

By Tegumai Bopsul… (not verified) on 24 Aug 2007 #permalink

Is this for real?

why dont they just get guns and shoot them while they are stealing their crops?

"clearly this moral decay is a result of darwinism" what an idiot. Go back to church and stay in your own little creationism world pal.

Better check your sarcasm detector, #5.

The answer to #4's question is in the BBC article: the animals are protected by the government. It's illegal to kill them, apparently.

@Legato

The Darwin reference was quite the sophisticated joke that your closed mind couldn't possibly understand.

By legato-con (not verified) on 24 Aug 2007 #permalink

There is an old saying that is perfectly applicable here. "Monkey see, monkey do." These are certainly only vicious creatures if you also consider humans to be vicious. This is probably learned behaviour. Someone needs to set up a local training facility for these monkeys, teach them proper behaviour in relationship to the human community. This can be done, obviously they are conscious and can learn. The problem is the lack of local control in the village, and also the desire to kill what you do not understand.

Its an interesting fact that various species are getting bolder with humans. I suspect this is because of legislation which has been brought in to protect the animals, and the animals now realise they no longer have reason to fear man.

The vervet monkey is one case in point, I am sure they are very enterprising in their means. I am also sure that they are just as capable of opportunism as their human cousins are, so talk of people encroaching on their habitats is a little bit premature.

Another example is the growing agressiveness of seabirds (particularly gulls) in scenes eerily reminiscent of Hitchcock's "The Birds".

And just ask a Berliner what they think of wild boars when they are attacked on the outskirts of the city by an unruly horde of them just to get at a Big Mac.

Modern culture and legislation has brought this on.

The animal that fears no man.

> "The monkeys grab their breasts, and gesture at us while pointing at their private parts. We are afraid that they will sexually harass us," said Njeri.

"Sexual harassment" seems to me a bit of a stretch here, though. It could be the monkeys are just pointing out that they recognised the individuals as females, without conveying any other goals or desires.

(And it's pretty damn amazing if they are communicating "hey you aren't males, you didn't fool us!" -- not just the inter-species gesture-language communication, but the level of sophistication behind that thinking already -- the concept of deception!)

(And I'm intentionally distinguishing between symbolic sign-language and indexical gesture-language.)

"why dont they just get guns and shoot them while they are stealing their crops?"

A few times of doing that then they'll get the message. Either that or have the women carry around bats or sticks or whatever and when the monkeys get too close just go bezerk on them.

"There is an old saying that is perfectly applicable here. "Monkey see, monkey do." These are certainly only vicious creatures if you also consider humans to be vicious. This is probably learned behaviour."

The monkeys try different things till they find something that works. They figured it out themselves. They are smart things. Problem solvers. Trial and Error.

Sooo... what you do is make it so that this behavior is non-rewarding. It's not difficult. Why do you think that humans are naturally agressive and learned to use weapons in the first place? (hint: it has to do with protecting food supplies) Within a week they'd learn their place. Doesn't mean that I/you/them hate them or are afraid of them or like hurting things or anything retarded like that. It's just how it works.

Establishing schools for monkeys is a silly idea. They are wild animals and are dangerous.

If you want trained monkeys you would have to kill or drive off the wild monkeys, breed out the agressive traits, and create domesticated monkeys and then repopulate with domesticated monkeys. It wouldn't take more then 10-15 generations before their agressive nature is mostly gone.

How do you think we have dogs? (hint: they didn't evolve along side humans over thousands of years.. we created them in about 2-3 human generations of selective breeding)

Of course you don't want this, (and neither do I) but you don't realise this is exactly what your advocating. Spend some time with animals outside of a zoo and you'll quickly understand what I am talking about.

"It kind of makes you wonder what might happen to the people if enough of them are bitten or .. otherwise abused .. by these monkeys?"

What, like maybe the continent of Africa will experience an AIDS crisis? What a tasteless joke.

I'm in agreement with Tuomas. What I found indicates these monkeys don't eat potatoes, they eat hanging fruit or mielie shoots. The largest group reference I could find was 120.

This site is a Vervet rehabilitation farm with experience running back nearly ten years:
http://www.enviro.co.za/ethology/
There are stories of farmer's complaints that appear to be bogus upon investigation.

Part of the problem with guns is that bullets are expensive, and probably the only thing available are things like AK-47s. Kind of overkill. .22 rat rifles would be great but they likely still cant afford them.

My thought is get some goggles, some good super soaker squirt guns, and grow some scotch bonnet peppers.

The monkeys won't touch the peppers because they're hot as hell. so you chop em up and mix them in with squirt gun water. Poor mans pepper spray.

Infinite free ammo, cheap weapon, very very unhappy and undamaged monkey.

By the monkeynator (not verified) on 25 Aug 2007 #permalink

perhaps they could pass a law to at least lessen the monkey population, just as they did to other wild animals which multiplied to a dangerous level but were killed to a certain level.

Not to nitpick, but the sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys) is a different species altogether from the green monkey (Chlorocebus sabaeus). Chlorocebus aethiops has recently been split into various closely related species; the familiar vervet monkey is now known as Chlorocebus pygerythrus.

One simple solution: Soylent Vervet

An alternative solution: Purina Cat Chow - Vervet Tenderloins in Gravy

By Charles Soto (not verified) on 25 Aug 2007 #permalink

Oooh, I like the scotch bonnet/habanero solution. But how do we know they'd grow in that climate?

Oooh, I like the scotch bonnet/habanero solution. But how do we know they'd grow in that climate?

1) Because they can be grown in all sorts of climates, with the limiting factor being only the onset of frost, and

2) Their natural habitat is quite similar.

By Caledonian (not verified) on 25 Aug 2007 #permalink

I don't suppose too many of these starving people have video cameras and Internet access... but boy would this village make a great webcam spot. They could probably charge $5/ea and solve their food problem.

By Jem Tallon (not verified) on 25 Aug 2007 #permalink

I, personally, think Charlton Heston could be sent to the village to teach the villagers how to deal with "Those damn apes!"

Stop feeding the villagers and let the monkeys take over. Problem solved.

Send in Peter Gabriel with a car battery and some jumper cables.

Hey!Am from Kenya and when we were small we used to light smoky fires near bushes where these entered our gardens.This kept the monkeys at bay.
I would suggest that our government doesn't let people farm near forest
edges.

On second thought....

At this rate those monkeys are a decade or so away from spamming emails to Westerners promising millions of dollars...

Dear Sir/Ma'am,
I am Mr.Cerco Aethiops. an Auditor of a BANK OF THE NORTH
INTERNATIONAL,Nachu. I have the courage to Crave indulgence for
this important business
believing that you will never let me down
either now or in the future. Some
years ago, an American Mining
consultant/ contractor with the Kenya National
Petroleum Corporation,
made a numbered time (fixed)deposit for twelve calendar
months, valued
$12M.BAN (TWELVE MILLION US Bananas) in an account. On maturity,
The
bank sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no
reply.
After a month, The bank sent another reminder and finally his
contract
employers, the Kenya National Petroleum Corporation wrote
to inform the bank
that he died without MAKING A WILL, and all attempts
by the American Embassy to
trace his next of kin was fruitless. I
therefore, made further investigation and
discovered that the
beneficiary was an immigrant from Jamaica and only recently
obtained
American citizenship. He did not decla re any kin or relations in all
his official documents, including his Bank deposit paper work. This
money total
amount$12M.BAN ( TWELVE MILLION BANANAS)is still sitting
in my bank as
dormant Account. No one will ever come forward to claim
it, and according to
Kenya Banking policy, after some years, the
money will revert to the
ownership of the Kenyan Government if the
account owner is certified dead. This
is the situation, and my proposal
is that I am looking for a foreigner who will
stand in as the next of
kin to beneficiary, and OPEN a Bank Account abroad to
facilitate the
transfer of this money. This is simple, all you have to do is to
OPEN
an account anywhere in the world and send me its detail for me to
arrange
the proper money transfer paperwork, and facilitate the
transfer.
Yours,
Mr. Cerco Aethiops

kudos to #2,#14,#18,#22,#24,#26 for having a sense of humor for a story that deems it. #5 i think fell a little short of being funny, i hope #5 was trying to be funny, and not showing any doubt of idiocy.
But the solution i come up with is send in someone from Human Resources to have a seminar on sexual harassment and taking others property without permission, sat through both last month.

I say get a pistol and some snipper rifles and have open game day. Kill a few hundred satan monkeys and i think they will get the clue. Theyre smart right. Maybe a little fear in them would set them straight.

Just hope they dont learn how to use guns too.

YOU DAMN DIRTY PRIMATE!

I hope the monkeys win. The humans win far too often.

By wingedearth (not verified) on 25 Aug 2007 #permalink

It's illegal to kill them but....

Shoot one. Pay the fine. Hang it from the nearest tree/post. Never take it down. Even better have one of the village's women do the honors. =)

By plotzlich (not verified) on 25 Aug 2007 #permalink

Two words: Chuck Norris. No one can obliterate wild satan monkeys like the norris. believe me. when my farm town had the curse of criss angel, chuck norris cam over and whamo, we're safe. scouts honour.

Send in Peter Gabriel with a car battery and some jumper cables.

LMAO!!! xlnt idea morgan, two birds~one stone, the monkeys get 86'ed, and peter gabriel goes back to work.

No good solution. I'd suggest relocating the monkeys, but one would have to capture ALL the monkeys and that seems unlikely. Next bet would be lift the ban on harming the monkeys. Harm 'em and harm 'em like you mean it!

Of course, we couldn't just relocate the humans, could we? No... I thought not.

Sexual abuse/harrasment? Sexual abuse/harrassment is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to interspecies relationships. Oh come on! They're MONKEYS! They know nothing of human sexual mores.

As more of their home turf is taken, more of them will try to invade ours. Nowhere else to go.

In the US we solve our monkey problems by electing them to congress.

It seems like a shame, but harming the monkeys that go for the human grown food seems like the best solution. That's assuming that the monkeys have another food supply to go after.

i wonder how long it will be before they get video cameras in that part of Kenya.

The good thing is that all of them are... monkeys on the lam!

Just a thought... since the boys are throwing rocks and deterring them why don't the women and young girls start doing the same? Then there will be no reason to distinguish between male and female.

Send in Peter Gabriel with a car battery and some jumper cables.

I'm not sure about Peter Gabriel, but the car battery and jumper cables with some wire around the grain store would surely keep the monkeys out.

Having read this story its the biggest heap of BS.
I have lived with vervets all my life, rescued injured monkeys, handraised orphaned baby vervets. Yes they will steal crops or should they see food through an open window or doorway they will go in and take it. As for the " sexually explicit gestures at the women" monkeys will sit and scratch their testicles or dig around their pubic area if they have an itch. That is not a sexual gesture. So every human male that adjusts himself as I see many men doing that must now be construed as a sexual gesture???
This whole article is ludicrous.

Cheeky little monkeys. (Sorry, couldn't resist). Some of the returning Crusaders were said to have accused their wimpled dames of cavorting with their personal Vervet in the absence of their knight-husband. Guess those monkeys have always had a bad reputation.

Maybe what the black people say is true: "what goes around, comes around". The monkeys are doing to the blacks exactly all the things the blacks have been doing to the whites.

Send all the pit bulls over there.

Re: 43

Buh?

By Jewbacchus (not verified) on 25 Aug 2007 #permalink

I know it's not his quite his forté, but Michael Vick and his crew could probably solve this problem.

"We come in peace, monkeys!"
Come on, people wish to be peaceful with intelligent space-faring civilizations -- what about mentally capable Earth-faring species?

We need Captain Picard, pronto!

Anyway, I think a violent solution is 100% the wrong direction. As has been said here, "monkey see, monkey do". If this is really influenced by food shortage in the area, would it really be smart to have the monkeys get used to violent action?

You want to see sexual harassment from monkeys? The African Lion Safari near Hamilton, Ontario can fill all your rude primate needs. These guys are creative, uninhibited, and more than willing to turn the hood of your car into a honeymoon suite.

What a bunch of bull. I'd like to know the amount of education these women have. And more interestingly, I'd like to hear some of their superstitious beliefs... that would make for interesting reading.

Haha, next thing you know we're going to hear that the women are providing sexual favors for the monkeys in order to avoid harassment. What a joke.

I can't help but think of this in terms similar to what Chomsky uses, how would this look to an intelligent being from another civilization? Could they tell that the hairless ones are really any smarter?

Here in Western Europe we usually get rid of everything which annoys us. I'd say, like we removed wolves from Alps, they should remove monkeys from their land.

I checked with the HR representative for my company. Obviously, these monkeys need to attend a week long sensitivity and sexual harassment course.
The poor monkeys are just ignorant. Of course, if the behavior persists after training, they'll be fired.

"Make love, not war"

Aposto que os macacos são os chupistas na versão animal

Take about 2 dozen bottles with narrow necks big enough for the monkey to get its paw in. Put food in the bottom of the bottles. Those that take the bait won't let go of the bait and have a hand trapped in the bottle.

Depending on preference, fix the bottle to something the monkey can't gnaw through or just let it go with a bottle on its hand. I wonder whether the monkeys would turn on their own if it had a defect, like a hand in a bottle.

I agree with the pepper pellet idea. I would use a catapult to deliver a pellet to the eyes from a few metres away.

Presumably, the vervet's natural predators were chased away to protect livestock. If so, the villagers' problem is one of their own making.

Actually, it's not illegal to kill this monkey. It's done in S. Africa all the time -- they're a common pest.

The reason they're pointing to their genitals might have something to do with social ranking. Male vervet monkeys have blue scrotums. As the male rises/falls in social rank, the scrotum turns more or less blue.

By Mr. Wizard (not verified) on 26 Aug 2007 #permalink

Crosman has cheap underpowered BB guns which sell online for $45 and uses inexpensive BBs. The CO2 cartridges can be bought in quantity for about $.50 a piece and one cartridge could deter lots of monkeys for a full day at least.

http://www.airgunwarehouseinc.com/crc11co2pobb.html

What's more since they're not that powerful they probably won't kill the monkey unless one of the women lucks off a head shot.

Most importantly they're not powerful enough to kill or seriously wound people without an eyeshot so I wouldn't see a woman shooting at a monkey missing and taking out the woman next to her by mistake. A cheap laser site can be added for about $50. After a while you wouldn't need the CO2 or BBs very much just the sight of the pistol or red dot from the laser would disuede the monkeys.

These companies used to make single shot pump version of these pistols that don't require the CO2 but they realized they were making more off the CO2 than the guns so they discontinued these models.

Ok! i am quite convinced by the post here! Now maybe its not a 100% sexual harrassment but the truth is that people are facing a v. embarassing and harmful type of violence here!! And i agree with Dylan, it is not a situation where we would want to see monkeys get used to violent action for the result can only be a more suprising form of a defence act becuase the truth is that they are trying to survuive here.
The most interesting point of the conversation was when we were talking about gunning these monkeys down in a specially constructed rehabilitation farm for them!
In the last analysis, it does seem like monkeys are irritated because of the encroachment of their space by humans.
So the best alternative action would be to demand some land/houses from the poeple responsible for the farm or the govt.!
Althoug i can also see why that would be an unwanted course of action!! SO basically the situation is v. desperate and our 100 or so yrs old instituion just fail whe it comes down to saving lives!!!!!!

it's inhuman to give land and food to animals when humans are starving. it's easy being a green anymalist when you are in the rich side of the world. they should just turn the monkeys into meat to cook and eat.

I like the suggestion #30.

It's the forces of natures going crazy against humanity!! They will be forced to exterminate the problem or they'll have to keep living with it. :( It's sad to hear that they are facing such a not_cool problem like this.

Their governement should concider to allow them to get rid of the problem (by killing these crazy animals).

I am an animal lover don't get me wrong on this: but there's a strong distinction bewteen loving cute and fury animals and having your wife/girlfriend/date sexualy harrassed by one of them.

Just get rid of them. What matters is having at their disposal ***a potential solution*** to this issue.

wow! You are a PhD student? what a frightfully uninspired doodle, void of any sort of nuanced evaluation, your blog entry on these monkeys has become. I honestly expected better! I sincerely hope none of your articles nor those you supposedly review for nature and science are drafted in such a manner, especially with regard to the interpretation of facts.

I'm also skeptical of the "sexually explicit gestures" part; seems more like something the humans are filling in. OTT aggression once they figure out that the women and kids won't hurt them, though, well -- that falls well within the documented range of primate behavior.

I like that chili pepper idea. GREAT idea.

It also strikes me (pun not entirely inteded) that there is an awful lot of physical aggression available short of shooting the furry little bastards. The women and kids carrying big sticks and giving them a good whack whenever they cross paths should not be a problem. I wonder if this is prohibited by a general culture thing which teaches that women should never/could never be physically violent and use weapons to defend themselves against aggression, something I've run across before, much to my dismay.

A step further than the "give them a good whack" thing might be, whenever the monkey troop comes into view, have a quick-forming posse that rallies immediately and chases them as far as possible, in a concerted manner, and beats the heck out of anything they catch. Monkeys will learn, one hopes.

By Luna_the_cat (not verified) on 27 Aug 2007 #permalink

GrrlScientist

The super soaker/pepper juice requires close proximity and having both the shooter and target in the same place at the same time - meaning 7x24 guards covering a *lot* of territory.

Spray the veggies with hot pepper juice. I suggest habanero. Monkey lips will be *not* happy with it and I'm fairly certain it could be rinsed off with the dirt to an acceptable level of human tolerance ("eat spicy or don't eat?").

Also, it would probably help if the villagers planted "bait" near their crop that would make the monkey happier than eating the more important crops.

1) The "sexual harassment" business could be a misinterpretation of dominance gestures, or the monkeys could have learned that certain behaviors will chase away the women.

2) In any case, they have certainly learned that the humans, or at least the women, aren't going to fight back. This needs to change. They should definitely be throwing rocks, if not taking a cane or whip to the offending monkeys.

3) I also agree there's probably a general shortage of food in the vicinity. This means the villagers are probably going to have to guard their crops for the forseeable future. If they can't manage that, then living in the area may be unsustainable -- unless they can get license to take harsher steps against the monkeys. (While I do have some sympathies for the cute 'lil monkeys, I have to stand with my own species!)

By David Harmon (not verified) on 27 Aug 2007 #permalink

A chaingun should fix the matter quite promptly and accurately.
I'll gladly sign up for the job

ok, all you gotta do is to teach the monkeys to farm for themselves... eventually they'll start giving themselves etiquette classes etc...

...i'm only halfway joking

By flexxxyrhead (not verified) on 27 Aug 2007 #permalink

#26: Mr. Cerco Aethiops, Living a life in a "monkey business" will find ourselves overrun by "monkeys". You can make your 12M bananas turn into a vinegar if you know the secrets of fermentation process at your Bank's Vault. Nevertheless, human intelligence is more superior than animals never attempt to trap people because we are the maker of traps for animals. Sorry Mr. Aethiops we are talking about the dominion of Humans over animals

#55 Wow! galing mo! that's the most intelligent way on how to
trap Monkey minded people. Once they got hold of what they want, they will never let go even if it will risk their own lives. Anyway, a one handed monkey could never climb a tree.

am I the only one that thinks monkeys are all hairy little bastards?

Lets see, monkeys have contributed HIV, incurable Herpes strains that kill, and are generally obnoxious creatures- just get it over and shoot the bastards-stop being PC, chicken etc.
Humans FIRST. Im not being sarcastic I mean it-just kill 'em.

By james cunningham (not verified) on 28 Aug 2007 #permalink

...and humans have contributed appalling levels of pollution, the collapse of innumerable ecosystems, religious wars, terrorism, "crazy frog" ring tones, the common cold, and "reality TV" shows like Big Brother. Really, when it comes to being just plain obnoxious, we've got every other primate on the planet beat hands down. I recommend that you not make obnoxiousness a criterion for oblivion, if you want to look towards human survival.

By Luna_the_cat (not verified) on 28 Aug 2007 #permalink

From what I just read, I think these Kenyan villagers are an embaressment to the human species! Getting owned by 300 one pound monkeys? Give me a friggin' break!
There's something wrong here...they've been so harrassed- SEXUALLY- that they've been collecting famine relief to survive?
It would take ONE roll of wire and someone who can tie a slip knot to make enough snares to deal with these turds...or women with the guts to pick up a rock and throw it back at the monkeys...
I say they're just scamming for free food...maybe famine relief means canned jams and foods they can't make for themselves?

I must say, this topic really seems to have brought out the unthinking trolls.

Michael -- if there are legal penalties for killing the monkeys, then they may not want to kill the monkeys. But as for women fighting back, absolutely they should. This needs to fall under the heading of teaching women that they are allowed to be violent in their own defense, which is currently NOT approved of in African culture; a culture which also considers rape to be the woman's shame, and which still practices female genital mutilation. They have a whole raft of problems to tackle, with deep cultural roots.

But "scamming for free food"? That's just obnoxious, too. I suggest you look at what "famine relief" is composed of, before you make comments about scamming.

By Luna_the_cat (not verified) on 28 Aug 2007 #permalink

Illegal means nothing when your crops are being stolen and your kids begin to starve. Just like any other insect, mammal, reptile or human that attempts to move me off my land and eat the food I've grown: I'll do whatever it takes to ensure that you don't. Bats, pepper spray, AK-47s, whatever.

Wow, what a lot of ignorant, stupid answers! You have to have your head firmly wedged up your own butt to say "Shoot 'em all". Yeah, Western Europe made all the right decisions in ridding Europe of every "nuisance" species. At one national park they shot all the raptors because they were "bad" birds eating all the "good" song birds. When will man get over himself and admit Mother nature had it right and we should STOP being so unbelievably arrogant? Someone in this town wanted to trap all the urban beavers to stop them from eating his fruit trees. Too bad he never heard of cheap, easy chicken wire. Everybody gets along! The knee jerk reaction is rarely the smart one. I respect nuisance species because they show their adaptability, creativity, and intelligence. We just have to be smarter, not more ruthless.

By Pete from Ont (not verified) on 28 Aug 2007 #permalink

To answer your query #70, No, but you're the only one stupid enough to say so.

By Pete from Ont (not verified) on 28 Aug 2007 #permalink

Wow! What is the world coming to? The intelligence level of these monkeys is amazing!

By Sandra in AR (not verified) on 28 Aug 2007 #permalink

Pete from Ont: Within your state of mindless babble of beavers and chickenwire, raptors, birds and fruit trees havent you understood why so many people here are saying "Shoot them all"?
Maybe it's because most tactics of capture and other ways of fixing this problem in humane non-ruthless ways is yelding no positive result!
You respect nuisance species because they show their adaptability, creativity, and intelligence?
Grabbing themselves, sexually harassing people, harming the woman & children and killing livestock and house pets is adaptable and creative to you?
That is intelligent?

They only adapt to the rage that they choose to try to scare other living things.

Everyone gets along?
Any plan that those people make will be torn down by the monkeys.... no one will get along, not as long as those savage little tyrants continue to wreak havoc on that town!

Like I said.... Gatlin gun

Some monkey protection laws should be changed in order to keep human life at peace.

i was just in kenya for the past month, and these bastards stole my cornflakes while camping in samburu!!!

Hmmmm wonder if the monkeys would be interested in some tech support jobs... They'd fit right in at M$.

Kill da munkeez!

People are starving and some of you are worried about the poor monkeys?!

Idiots.

Funny, the Brits probably had the same discussion as above when they landed in Africa and encountered the indigenous people there.

Especially comment #28 - you are talking about the animals there aren't you, not the humans? Later Western military leader's speeches probably said the same thing...

@#56 Correct. I think they are classified as vermin, but I am less sure that it is permissible to harm them in nature reserves.

@#80 You are lucky if they only stole your cornflakes. Unwary hikers in the Magaliesberg (S Africa) suffer the indignity of backpack pockets being unzipped and the contents removed in a trice. Just take your eyes off your pack for literally a few seconds and one of these tiny pickpockets will have done the business. Some are even smart enough not to risk aluminium ingestion by biting through foil-wrapped food; they unwrap it, barely tearing the foil in the process.

Hanging your pack from a tree branch with a long, thin nylon cord, too thin and slippery to grip, sometimes works.

This is truely sad. Monkeys getting the best of humans. I dare think about the times to come.

For those that are asking why the people not just shoot the monkeys it is because they are a protected species by law. Sadly this is another case of human/animal confrontation due to loss of habitat. But they need to put a stop to this situation before it scalates into tragedy. And in such instance make no mistake about it. The biggest loosers would be the monkeys themselves...

The sexual gesturing thing would be comical if the situation was not so serious...

By PunkMaister (not verified) on 04 Nov 2007 #permalink

i love t he vervet monky and stuff there so cutie but make it short and intresting hears more facts.....

Distribution: Grassland south of the Sahara from Somalia to eastern and southern Africa.

Habitat: Savannah and woodland edge, near water.

Size: height: 46-66cm. weight: male 4.5kg. female 3.3kg.

Life-span: 7-12 years.

Food: Fruit, leaves, crops, flowers, nestlings, eggs and rodents.

Sexual maturity: 5 years in the wild, 2 years in captivity.

Gestation: 163 days.

Vervets have a very mixed diet, although their favourite food is fruit. They will also eat flowers and leaves, crops from farmsteads, and even insects, eggs and small rodents. They collect food using their hands, and the young are taught what foods to pick and how to prepare them for eating by their mothers. Vervets also make regular evening trips to a water-hole to drink. The monkeys are also accidental gardeners. They eat seeds whole, and they pass undigested through them and into their droppings, which are left in ideal places for germination, increasing the abundance of trees.

Vervets' natural predators include eagles and snakes, particularly the python, which often waits at the bottom of a tree to ambush an unsuspecting monkey as it climbs down. Pythons are able to swallow vervets whole. Baboons sometimes kill and eat vervet monkeys too.

Vervets are highly social animals, and occur in well organised troops, dominated by males. Females do not leave their natal group, but males emigrate from the troop at puberty. Access to prime food recourses is determined by the dominance hierarchy