Majikthise

Motherf@$# monkeys on the motherf$#$! train

Black-faced Langur, originally uploaded by Ananda Debnath.

In an attempt to keep monkeys off the subway, Indian officials are fighting simians with simians:

NEW DELHI (AP) -- In an effort to keep monkeys out of the New Delhi subways, authorities have called in one of the few animals known to scare the creatures - a fierce-looking primate called the langur, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported Wednesday.
The decision to hire a langurwallah - a man who trains and controls the langurs - came after a monkey got into a metro car in June, the newspaper reported.

"Here in the North there is no such thing as monkeys."

Ah, Canadian creationists.

Bear eats monkey in Amsterdam

Somebody tell Stephen Colbert!

Carnage at the Beekse Bergen Safari Park in Amsterdam when a sloth bear eats Barbary macaque in front of aghast visitors. [AP]

Happy Friday: New primate species discovered

Welcome to scientific awareness, Rungwecebus kipunji!

I always feel weird about saying that a "new" species of primate has been "discovered." Invariably the "new" species has been on the planet longer than humans have. Furthermore, it usually turns out that plenty of people have known about these critters for ages, just not the visiting scientists who "discover" them.

That's no slight on the scientists, of course. It takes a lot of expertise to recognize that an unfamiliar and fast-moving simian belongs to a species heretofore unknown to science, let alone to prove that your monkey is the first-known example of the first new primate genus to be discovered in 83 years.

Hat tip to my brother Loren.

Paris Hilton as a proboscis monkey

Paris Hilton as a Proboscis Monkey at Gallery of the Absurd, via CityRag.

Monkey deaths puzzle biologists

Biologists are baffled by the mysterious deaths of 3000 Costa Rican monkeys:

San Jose.– Biologists and veterinarians are baffled by the death of more than 3,000 monkeys of various species at a remote national park in southwestern Costa Rica.

The deaths of the spider, white-faced capuchin, howler and squirrel monkeys occurred over several weeks late last year in Corcovado National Park, prompting Costa Rican and U.S. scientists to launch an investigation.

Eduardo Carrillo, a scientist at the National University of Costa Rica, told the press that between 30 and 40 percent of the monkey population at the park - home to some 10,000 primates - had died, probably from a disease, though the nature of the illness remains a mystery. [Dominican Today]

Via Monkeys in the News.

See also this BBC news clip on the Costa Rican monkey deaths.

Jews at the zoo, overfeeding monkeys

No, they're not being fattened up for seder dinner.

Here's why New York monkeys love Passover:

Security has been tight this week at the Central Park Zoo, with ticket takers, staff, and guards on the lookout for suspicious packages of cookies, pretzels, hot-dog buns, and pound cake. Observant Jews have till Wednesday to clear their houses of hametz (leavened products) before Passover, and every year many of them take their castoffs to the zoo. Baffled zoo staff note that the snow monkeys are the main beneficiaries of the pre-holiday pig-out, apparently because the polar bear’s glass wall is too high and the sea lions would only be interested if offered gefilte fish. “If a big group comes in carrying bags, admission is going to notice,” says zoo spokesperson Kate McIntyre. [New York Magazine]

Hat tips to Thad and Ezra.

Ebola source discovered

If you read Hot Zone you know that source of the ebola virus was an epidemiological mystery for many years. Scientists knew the virus had to live somewhere in between outbreaks, but they couldn't pinpoint the species. Monkeys were prime suspects.

Turns out it's been the fruit bats all along.

Researchers in Gabon and Congo have found the source of the ebola virus: three species of fruit bat. The ebola microbe, which is deadly to humans and other apes, is harmless to the bats. Fruit bats are commonly eaten by humans in Africa, and researchers say this is probably how outbreaks occur. [LAT]

Looks like we owe our primate cousins a big apology.

What is Baby Luv?

It has been widely reported that socialite Paris Hilton was attacked by her pet monkey, Baby Luv, as she shopped for bras at Agent Provocateur. Primate lovers reacted with curiosity and elation. Baby Luv's species became a topic of intense speculation. News reports described Baby Luv as part racoon, part monkey. Knowledgeable primate media watchers assumed the gossip collumnists were describing a lemur, or perhaps a galago. But it turnst out that Baby Luv isn't a monkey after all, he's a kinkajou, a racoonlike creature native to South America.
>Does anyone have any footage of Paris with her kinkajou? I want to post it at Crooks and Liars?

Snow monkey live-cam!

Snow monkey live-cam, people. What are you waiting for?

The sidebar links are all in Japanese, but don't worry. Just click. It's all cute.