By Rebecca Seales


To our eyes they look like unlikely playmates, but no-one seems to have told this baby macaque not to monkey around with tigers.

Pictured at the Hefei Wild Zoo in China’s Anhui province, the tiny rhesus monkey, named Taoqi, was perfectly at ease as he rolled around with the big-cat-to-be.

Still at the fluffy stage, the blue-eyed tiger cub was happy to snuggle with its smaller friend.

Give us a cuddle: Baby rhesus macaque Taoqi cosies up to a young tiger cub at a zoo in Hefei, China

One shot shows cheeky Taoqi climbing over the cub's back, while in another he fearlessly bats at the tiger's face.

A quick look at the cub's open mouth reveals the budding teeth that characterise these hunting cats.

It's anyone's guess if their friendship will go the distance, but for the moment, the tiny predator is clearly feline good around his great ape.


Peekaboo: Taoqi peers fearlessly at the camera as he clings to the cub's back

Mind the teeth! The tiny tiger shows its budding fangs as its macaque friend goes in for a stroke

Although Taoqi lives in captivity in eastern China, rhesus monkeys are native to South, Central and Southeast Asia. They are venturesome creatures, and learn to swim at just a couple of days old.

Often happy to live alongside humans, many rhesus monkeys raid refuse for food, or rely on their neighbours for handouts.


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By Daily Mail Reporter


Bud the border collie and Whiplash the Rodeo Monkey performing in Reno, Nevada

They are an inseparable double act – Bud the border collie and Whiplash the Capuchin monkey.

What’s more, there’s nothing they like better than rounding up sheep – to the delight of the crowds at the rodeo in Reno, Nevada.

Whiplash, 27, is now a favourite at the rodeos in the US south-west.

Monkey magic: Whiplash shows off his moves in the rodeo arena

According to owner Tommy Lucia, he keeps his collies on a short rein.

‘The sheepdogs know their place and he curses them if they are not doing what he says,’ he said.

'He's got such a strong will you never quite know what he's going to do - there's always a surprise. But he's a natural in the saddle.

'When he's done for the day he goes to our motor home for dinner. His favourite foods are pears, apples, bananas and especially strawberries.'


Whiplash, riding a trusty border collie for a steed, concentrates on the job in hand - rounding up sheep

A little help from his friend: Owner Tommy Lucia leads Whiplash by the hand in preparation for his routine

Mr Lucia dismisses claims from animal campaigners that Whiplash would be better off in the rainforests of Central or South America, his native habitat.

'I rescued him from a stinking cage in Florida when he was just a baby and I can assure you he'd let me know if life wasn't good,' he declared.


Western: Whiplash has the studied air of an old-fashioned cowboy as he rides Bud through the ring


Popular: A large crowd turned out to watch Whiplash strut his impressive stuff in Reno


source:dailymail

By Chris Parsons


This tiny baby monkey may still be making his way in the world, but he certainly does not appear camera shy.

The little grey langur baby already boasted a pair of beautiful deep blue eyes when he played up to the camera near his home in India.

The baby creature was captured by Russian photographer Sotskov Nikolay with other wild monkeys near the city of Bhubaneshvar in India.

Ready for my close-up: The adorable baby grey langur monkey showed he was not camera shy when pictured near his Indian home

Although the 29-year-old amateur snapper pictured this adorable baby langur in India, the species live anywhere from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and even Afghanistan.

Grey langurs generally prefer the highest branches of trees, but when living in human environments are known to settle at the top of towers and even electric poles.

Some rarer species of grey langurs have a threatened conservation status, with only hundreds remaining in the world, but there are thought to be around 300,000 langurs currently in India.


Baby steps: The tiny creature was spotted with other wild monkeys at a temple in Bhubaneshvar, India



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By Jill Reilly


Monkey business: Hyundai's new family hatchback was put to the ultimate test at Knowsley Safari Park, in Merseyside, where the baboons are well known for mobbing visitors' motors

They press all the buttons, try to open the windows, then drop their lunch down every crevice in the upholstery.

And that’s just the kids when you take them for a drive in the car.

So what better way to test the durability of a brand new family saloon than to leave it at the mercy of a troop of cheeky little monkeys?

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I like driving in my car: Designers wanted to see if the extra-strong materials interior materials and wipe-clean plastics would withstand 10 hours of rough handling

That is precisely what Korean car maker Hyundai did when it wanted to discover how its new i30 hatchback would withstand the ordeal of so many inquisitive minds, prying fingers and sticky paw marks. Not to mention the unmentionable from a species never noted for potty-training.

At one stage there were 40 baboons road-testing the car, jumping up and down on the seats and clambering through the ‘panoramic ambience’ (Hyundai’s phrase) of the sliding glass roof.

About the only difference between the primates and their counterpart human rascals was that the one in the back never asked: ‘Are we nearly there yet?’

Baboons at Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside are no strangers to ripping apart family cars but are actually highly intelligent.


Time to play: As soon as it was left unattended in the ape enclosure dozens rushed to clamber all over their new toy - the monkeys also managed to pull off part of a door seal but this was easily pushed back in to place


Exploring: Some pushed and prodded interior buttons while others played with the storage bins. They even experimented with the car’s cupholders, using plastic drinking beakers they had been given


Can't catch me: Normally the monkey's can't touch a car aerial, so this one grabs the chance with both hands

I like driving in my car: Designers wanted to see if the extra-strong materials interior materials and wipe-clean plastics would withstand 10 hours of rough handling

The automotive monkey-business was inspired by another great mind – Wayne Rooney – whose £80,000 Audi was damaged by the mob when the footballer visited the park last year.

The Hyundai was handed over to the troop for ten hours and left unattended.

Designers wanted to see how the finish would stand up to the kind of punishment the average child might inflict during the car’s lifetime.

Dozens of the animals colonised it from the moment it was driven into their enclosure.


Helping hand: Now Hyundai hopes the lessons learnt from the monkey test will help future research and development


Happy monkeys: David Ross, from the park, said the baboons loved playing with the car. 'For a baboon to have a car to play with for the whole day is manna from heaven. These baboons are incredibly inquisitive,' he said

After the challenge: Hyundai's new family hatchback after the test at Knowsley Safari Park, where the baboons are well known for mobbing visitors' motors

Result: a few scrapes, lots of smears and finger marks, a dislodged rubber door seal that was rejected as a snack, plus some tooth marks in the steering wheel. The good news: no one stole the alloys.

‘Safari park monkeys are particularly good at discovering weak points on cars and then pulling, prodding and tearing at the parts until they break,’ said Hyundai project manager Felicity Wood.

The park’s general manager David Ross said the baboons, which can weigh up to 66lb, ‘thoroughly enjoyed’ the experiment.

He added: ‘For a baboon to have a car to play with for the whole day is manna from heaven.’


WAG monkey attack: Last year Coleen Rooney posted a picture on Twitter of one of the cheeky apes pulling at a windscreen wiper on footballer husband Wayne’s £80,000 Audi




source:dailymail

By Phil Vinter


The recent heavy downpours may have left many of us once again bemoaning the British weather, but for these inquisitive characters it was cause for a party.

The monkeys at Longleat Safari and Adventure Park made the most of large puddles which formed following the bad weather to get down to some serious monkey business.

Far from heading for cover, the huge pools of water became a temporary play area for the rhesus monkeys as some were delighted by their own reflections.

Making waves: A rhesus monkey plays in a huge puddle of water that has been created by the recent heavy rainfall at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire

Longleat's deputy head keeper Ian Turner, who took the photographs, said: 'Watching them jumping about in the puddles and even throwing stones and other objects into the water to see how big a splash they can make has been great.

'It's obvious they genuinely enjoy themselves, even if the rest of us are finding the rain less entertaining.'

He added: 'I was particularly interested to observe them watching their reflections in the water. They seemed to be captivated by their own image and it really brings home how intelligent they are.'

The monkeys are among more than 100 rhesus macaques at Longleat who normally spend their days leaping from car to car, hitching free rides on the thousands of vehicles that pass through their enclosure each day.


Double vision: This rhesus monkey enjoys making ripples as he rests on a rock at the edge of a giant puddle


New experience: This inquisitive chappy appears to be checking out his reflection in the water before creating a big splash


Waterworld: Fascinated by their wet surroundings, it is a new experience for some of the younger members of the group

Splish splash: The monkeys normally spend their days leaping from car to car, hitching free rides on the thousands of vehicles

Found throughout south-east Asia and across the Indian subcontinent, rhesus monkeys thrive in a wide variety of habitats and climates.

In some parts of India they are believed to be sacred, with the result that they have lived in close contact with humans for centuries, particularly in and around Buddhist and Hindu temples.

Rhesus monkeys are extremely intelligent, naturally inquisitive animals who can learn to manipulate simple tools and distinguish colours and shapes.



source:dailymail

By Daily Mail Reporter


An internet sensation: The piggy-back ride that formed a unique friendship between the lonely twosome

We have all enjoyed the odd piggy-back ride and it seems there's no exception, even if you are a monkey.

This Japanese macaque called Miwa-chan has has become an internet sensation and had more than 11 million hits since he decided to hitch a ride on his porky friend Uribo.

The pairs antics were filmed at the Fukuchiyama Zoo, near Kyoto, Japan, by keeper and vet Akihiro Nihonmatsu.

Holding on tightly: Miwa-Chan goes on a piggyback ride into the wild at Fukuchiyama Zoo

The two are now so popular a book featuring Miwa-chan and Uribo has been written by Akihiro and is read by millions of Japanese children.

Miwa-chan had to be hand-reared by keepers at the zoo after he was rejected by his birth parents.

And bizarrely Akihiro and his team found a surrogate friend for the social monkey in the shape of a baby Japanese wild boar.

The pair hit if off immediately with Miwa-chans favourite position being gripped onto the back of his piggy friend - aping the behaviour in the wild where the youngster would hold on to his mother.

Since his first ride on the back of Uribo both the monkey and the pig have grown up together and have now had their own shared enclosure built for them.

Akihiro, 39, said when the monkey and the pig arrived they were both lonely so putting them together as youngsters was the natural thing to do.

He said: 'Uribo still lets Miwa-chan ride his back to this day as the little monkey has never grown out of it.

'They now have an enclosure they share together and they are very happy at the zoo, I don't think they have an idea how famous they are, but all the publicity helped pay for their upkeep.

'Miwa-chan actually was attacked by a raccoon in the zoo last year and needed 30 stitches so he wasn't able to ride on Uribos back for a while.

'But it was really touching how Uribo missed him and it's amazing to think two animals not related and different species can become such good friends.'


The popular twosome: The pairs special moments were captured at the Fukuchiyama Zoo, near Kyoto, Japan, by keeper and vet Akihiro Nihonmatsu




source:dailymail

By Chris Parsons


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Helping hand: Pete the capuchin scrubs away at the first of many pots in Bolivia


At a time of year which most spend eating and drinking, any extra cleaning help will always come in useful.

But this is one domestically-trained assistant you're unlikely to find in the kitchen - a monkey who has been trained to do the washing-up.

The capuchin was being reintroduced to the wild at a sanctuary in El Chapar, Bolivia by Louis Dumas two years ago.

Elbow grease: The small monkey works hard despite carrying a baby female called Pea on his back


But ever since being shown back into his natural habitat, the male monkey named Pete has started mimicking human behaviour.

Pete's bizarre antics included imitating humans washing dishes, meaning the capuchin was soon scrubbing away at pots and pans at the sanctuary.

The monkey's cleaning exploits are all the more impressive given he does so with another monkey, a baby female called Pea, on his back the whole time.


You missed a spot: The cleaning capuchin gets right into the corner of one bowl during his washing-up

Working hard: Pete the capuchin has reportedly become so well-trained he rinses his own scrubbing brush


Monkey expert Louis Dumas said: 'Pete had been observing me washing the pots for a few days before he took over and began completely and perfectly imitating me.

'The monkey on his back is a baby female called Pea. She is not his daughter.

'Pete had an unfortunate overbite which made him a particularly ugly monkey; he had very little success with the ladies and therefore looked after babies a lot.'




source:dailymail

By Mail Foreign Service


Rolling with it: The Macaca fuscata, or Snow Monkey, playing with snowball at Jigokudani National Park in Japan


With a devilish look in his eye, this macaque rolls up his snowball and looks poised to unleash it.

These primates may not look as human as others in their family, but they clearly have the same instincts when it comes to having fun in the snow.

The naughty-looking monkeys were caught in a series of hilarious pictures by a British photographer at the Jigokudani National Park in Honshu, Japan.


'Macaques are intelligent primates who are able to make discoveries and pass them down the generations,' said Steve Bloom, 58.

'They are naturally inquisitive and play with the snow, sometimes rolling it into balls or just examining the texture.

'People underestimate the intelligence of animals, so people are often surprised when they see this behaviour.'


Seen you: Kent-based photographer, Steven Bloom, 58, took these amusing pictures while taking wildlife pictures at the Jigokudani National Park in Honshu, Japan


Two can play that game: A young rival decides he wants a piece of the action

Three's a crowd: The monkeys are well used to entertaining themselves in the white stuff - snow lies on the ground for four months of the year in Honshu


The island is famous for its four months of snow as well as its hot springs, where during winter the macaques gather to wallow and warm themselves in the steaming water.

They are the most northerly living non-human primate and are famous for washing their food in water before they eat it.


source:dailymail

-The men, from Borneo, were paid £64 for a dead orang-utan and £14 for a dead proboscis monkey
-Indonesia is home to 90 per cent of the 50,000 orang-utans left in the wild

By Richard Shears


Endangered: Indonesia is home to 90 per cent of the 50,000 orang-utans left in the wild (library image of a baby orang-utan)


Sickening details of a plan to slaughter endangered orang-utans were revealed today with the arrest of two men taking part in a hunt-and-kill operation in the jungles of Indonesia.

The palm oil workers were accused by police of hacking to death 20 orang-utans and a number of proboscis monkeys.

But it is feared many more have been slaughtered.


For each kill, the men were paid $US100 (£64) for a dead orang-utan and $22 (£14) for a monkey - a fortune on the island of Borneo, where Indonesia has sovereignty over two thirds of the land.

The Daily Mail revealed earlier this month that hundreds of orang-utans have been killed for food by villagers in Borneo in recent years as man and beast struggle for survival.

The arrest this week of the two palm oil workers is the first evidence that the slaughter is continuing despite appeals for it to stop.

Police said that although the men admitted killing the animals - under orders from a supervisor - between 2008 and 2010 officials believed the slaughter is continuing in a number of areas in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.


The arrested men, who come from the village of Puan Cepak, have admitted to police that they chased the animals, bringing them down with rifle shots before stabbing them or hacking them to death with machetes.

Among the evidence against the men, said the Jakarta Post, were photographs of the slain animals and buried bones unearthed near the palm plantation.

'This is the result of oil palm plantation owners trying to protect their crops from hungry orang-utans,' said police spokesman Colonel Antonius Sutirta.

'It's one of those unfortunate situations where farmers are taking more land as the population grows, or where demand for cooking oil increases, and the habitat of the orang-utans gets smaller.'

Mr Sutirta said that if convicted the oil palm hunters would face up to five years in prison.

But wildlife officials said putting two men in jail would be unlikely to stop the slaughter.

'There's a demand for food for the human population and there's the greed for making money from palm oil,' said a wildlife official in Jakarta.

'The result is diminishing habitat for the orang-utans and the death of these wonderful animals who are becoming desperate for food themselves.'

Police said they were considering the arrest of the supervisors who sent the men out on their slaughter missions.

Indonesia is home to 90 per cent of the 50,000 orang-utans left in the wild.

In the past 50 years, as the demand for palm oil, timber and vegetables has grown, indonesia has lost half of its rain forests.



source:dailymail

By Daily Mail Reporter


Seconds from harm: Joao Leite Dos Santos wades towards the spider mnkeys after having jumped into their enclosure at the Sorocaba Zoo, Sao Paulo, Brazil


An amateur cameraman has captured the insane moment a drunk zoo visitor jumped into a monkey enclosure to 'play with them', and ended up with severe bite marks after the animals attacked.

Joao Leite Dos Santos, a mechanic in Sao Paulo, Brazil, admitted that he had been drinking alcohol when he went to the Sorocaba Zoo on Sunday.

Thinking that it would be fun to join the zoo's colony of spider monkeys, he climbed over a fence and swam across a dividing pool to get closer to the animals, as amused tourists looked on.

Sinking in: Mr Dos Santos, even in his drunken state, is probably regretting his prank as the territorial spider monkeys attack him, biting his right wrist and elbow


Many kept their cameras trained on Mr Dos Santos and laughed as his presence in the water startled the monkeys.

A group of the long-limbed primates gathered at the water's edge, and one in particular kept reaching out for Mr Dos Santos in a bid to grab a hold of him.

Thinking that the monkeys were inviting him to join them, Mr Dos Santos moved close enough for them to grab hold of his arm.


Rapid escape: Now clearly in pain, Mr Dos Santos grabs the outstretched belt of a horrified onlooker as he attempts to get out of the enclosure

Gory aftermath: As zoo officials surround him, Mr Dos Santos bleeds heavily from a bite wound on his right wrist. He was later taken to hospital


Almost immediately, one of the spider monkeys sank its sharp teach into Mr Dos Santos's wrist, while another bit his elbow and shoulder.

The monkeys are fiercely territorial and had been sizing Mr Dos Santos up from the moment he climbed over the fence.


Realising the monkeys were not in a playful mood, and now in excruciating pain, Mr Dos Santos waded back towards the horrified onlookers and was dragged out of the water and over the enclosure fence.

He lay on the ground for several minutes, in a growing pool of his own blood, while zoo workers tried to work out what to do.

Her was eventually taken to hospital, where he was treated for severe bites to his right arm and shoulder, and gave sheepish interviews to the local media. It is not known whether he will face criminal charges for his prank.


source: dailymail

By Jessica Satherley


Acrobatics: The Gibbon balancing on the Liana vine in the Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo, Indonesia


Forget monkey bars, this gutsy gibbon clearly prefers the trickier task of the tightrope.

The playful primate looked footloose and fancy free as he strutted his stuff on a branch in Borneo - mimicking the movements of an acrobat.

The Hylobates agilis, also known as the Black-Handed Gibbon or the lesser ape, captivated tourists with his agile antics.


As he sprinted skillfully back and forth across a branch, wildlife photographer Thomas Marent, captured the entire comic episode on camera.

The 45-year-old from Baden, near Zurich, Switzerland was shooting orangutans at the Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesia when the talented gibbon came into view.

Thomas said: "The gibbon didn't seem to trust us at first but as soon as he saw a crowd gathering the shyness just seemed to go.

"Our tour guide had pieces of banana and each time the gibbon would run across the branch to get to it.


Show off: The confident gibbon strutted his stuff on the branch in front of tourists and was photographed by Thomas Marent.


Motivation: The tour guide had pieces of banana and each time the gibbon would run across the branch to get to it

"That's when we saw what an amazing talent he had and I managed to get the shot I was aiming for.

"He seemed to really enjoy showing off and went back and forth several times.

"This made the shoot easy despite the dark dense canopy of the rainforest.

"I know Gibbons are the acrobats among the Asian primates but I have never seen anything like this before. It was spectacular.

"I started making a living from photography five years ago and have photographed landscapes, architecture and people but nothing could ever fascinate me as much as wildlife."


source:dailymail

By PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTER

Two rhesus monkeys learned to operate a virtual arm with their brain power - It was the first ever demonstration of a primate brain operating a machine

Monkeys have been trained to move and feel virtual objects using thought alone in a scientific breakthrough that could help paralysed patients.

Two rhesus monkeys learned to operate a virtual arm with their brain power and were able to differentiate between the textures of virtual objects.

It is hoped this could pave the way for the development of a "robotic exoskeleton" to be worn by severely paralysed people, helping them move and experience the world around them using brainwaves, the senior author of the American study said.


Without moving any part of their real bodies the two monkeys used their electrical brain activity to direct the virtual hands of a computer character

Miguel Nicolelis, co-director of the Duke University Centre for Neuroengineering in Durham, North Carolina, said: "Someday in the near future, quadriplegic patients will take advantage of this technology not only to move their arms and hands and to walk again, but also to sense the texture of objects placed in their hands, or experience the nuances of the terrain on which they stroll with the help of a wearable robotic exoskeleton."


The virtual hands were then used to explore the surface of three virtual objects

The electrical brain activity of the two rhesus monkeys trained at the centre was used to direct the hands of a virtual monkey shown on a screen - without them moving any part of their real bodies.

The virtual hands were then used to explore the surface of three virtual objects, which looked the same but had been designed to have different textures, which were expressed as tiny electrical signals sent back to the monkeys' brains.


It is hoped this could pave the way for the development of a 'robotic exoskeleton' to be worn by severely paralysed people (picture posed by model)

Professor Nicolelis added: "The remarkable success with non-human primates is what makes us believe that humans could accomplish the same task much more easily in the near future."


The monkeys taught to use the virtual arm were rhesus monkeys (library image of that species)


source: dailymail