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Attack of the Evil Monkeys From Hell

Posted by kdawson on from the who's-wearing-the-pants dept.

grrlscientist writes "A new form of communication between wild vervet monkeys and humans is causing humans distress — and a collapse of their food supply. Approximately 300 vervet monkeys in Kenya are sexually harassing the women of a village so they can steal their crops. None of the attempts to discourage the monkeys has so far worked."

5 of 462 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not that hard of a problem to solve by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just make sure to lock your guns up, since they're breaking into homes. Monkey see, monkey do.

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  2. taste aversion by wizardforce · · Score: 5, Interesting

    in all srriousness what could be done is trying taste aversion [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste_aversion] basically this was used on wild animals to prevent the killing of sheep. what they did was add a lithium salt to a set of dead sheep, the animals would eat the meat, lithium and all and it caused nausea and reduced their activity. these affects were associated with the sheep meat and after a while the animals stopped attacking sheep as a food source. now all of these behaviors with these particular primates stem from their attempt to acquire food so putting a stop to that motivation stops the problem entirely. the last reason this could be an option is that the predators survive the encounter, taste aversion shouldn't cause long term harm like a few other options [hunting for one]

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  3. Re:So, shoot 'em. by sumdumass · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Take a stick and sharpen it. Then plunge it into the monkey. No ammo needed.

    Actually, you probably won't even need to kill them. Maybe a cattle prod or something and shock them a few times. You could take a stick and put a bunch of dull needles on them and hit the monkeys a few times. Animals are generally good at not doing things that cause pain. After a while they would just associated the women with pain and stay clear.

  4. Re:It all began when the monkeys got cable tv... by Telephone+Sanitizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Modded Flamebait?!

    That wasn't just a joke, it was culturally sensitive humor, pointing out the misogynistic tendencies of a popular television channel.

    Perhaps I was too subtle for you: BET teaches that women are objects to be exploited for sex or random abuse. Monkeys, watching BET would learn and mimic that behavior. So might human kids.

    See? That wasn't flame bait at all.

    Still don't get it? Turn on BET and watch for a few minutes at any time up until 4am when it switches to religious programming.

  5. Re:when arnt they going hungry? by Tsagadai · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There are problems with cannibalism? Wow, someone should have told me years ago.