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The Ancient Egyptians trained baboons to collect fruit and palm nuts, macaques have been used to harvest coconuts, capuchin monkeys are used in the US to help disabled people and I seem to recall that, during the time of the Raj, some remote Indian railway signal points were manned by trained monkeys, though I forget now which sort.
Doubtless, monkeys can be trained in a variety of tasks, and I was reminded of this by the news this morning that langur monkeys are being used by the organisers of the Commonwealth Games to prevent wild animals from entering games sites. It seems that langur monkeys are noted for their intelligence and are highly effective in deterring other animals and snakes from entering the areas they patrol.
I don’t sneer at the employment of trained monkeys; far from it. Anyone who, in their travels around the world, has seen their wild cousins will attest to their agility, cunning and, when upset, their aggression.
And I for one wouldn’t want to mess with one!
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The Ancient Egyptians trained baboons to collect fruit and palm nuts, macaques have been used to harvest coconuts, capuchin monkeys are used in the US to help disabled people and I seem to recall that, during the time of the Raj, some remote Indian railway signal points were manned by trained monkeys, though I forget now which sort.
Doubtless, monkeys can be trained in a variety of tasks, and I was reminded of this by the news this morning that langur monkeys are being used by the organisers of the Commonwealth Games to prevent wild animals from entering games sites. It seems that langur monkeys are noted for their intelligence and are highly effective in deterring other animals and snakes from entering the areas they patrol.
I don’t sneer at the employment of trained monkeys; far from it. Anyone who, in their travels around the world, has seen their wild cousins will attest to their agility, cunning and, when upset, their aggression.
And I for one wouldn’t want to mess with one!
.
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