Zombie PotatoHeads
10-03-2009, 02:21
Cunning monkey hurls rocks at zoo goers
STOCKHOLM - A canny chimpanzee who calmly collected a stash of rocks and then hurled them at zoo visitors in fits of rage has confirmed that apes can plan ahead just like humans, a Swedish study says.
Santino the chimpanzee's anti-social behaviour stunned both visitors and keepers at the Furuvik Zoo but fascinated researchers because it was so carefully prepared.
According to a report in the journal Current Biology, the 31-year-old alpha male started building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opened, collecting rocks and knocking out disks from concrete boulders inside his enclosure.
He waited until around midday before he unleashed a "hailstorm" of rocks against visitors, the study said.
"These observations convincingly show that our fellow apes do consider the future in a very complex way," said the author of the report, Lund University PhD student Mathias Osvath.
Santino did not attack the other chimpanzees, Osvath said. The attacks were only directed at humans viewing the apes across the moat surrounding the island compound where they were held.
However, he rarely hit visitors because of his poor aim, and no one was seriously injured in the cases when he did, Osvath said.
http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10560878
First we have kangaroos plotting home invasions, now monkeys hurling rocks (makes a change from feces I guess). What gives? Have the animals finally had enough of us and our destructive ways?
What next I wonder? badgers letting down tires, hedgehogs being dropped from great heights?
STOCKHOLM - A canny chimpanzee who calmly collected a stash of rocks and then hurled them at zoo visitors in fits of rage has confirmed that apes can plan ahead just like humans, a Swedish study says.
Santino the chimpanzee's anti-social behaviour stunned both visitors and keepers at the Furuvik Zoo but fascinated researchers because it was so carefully prepared.
According to a report in the journal Current Biology, the 31-year-old alpha male started building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opened, collecting rocks and knocking out disks from concrete boulders inside his enclosure.
He waited until around midday before he unleashed a "hailstorm" of rocks against visitors, the study said.
"These observations convincingly show that our fellow apes do consider the future in a very complex way," said the author of the report, Lund University PhD student Mathias Osvath.
Santino did not attack the other chimpanzees, Osvath said. The attacks were only directed at humans viewing the apes across the moat surrounding the island compound where they were held.
However, he rarely hit visitors because of his poor aim, and no one was seriously injured in the cases when he did, Osvath said.
http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10560878
First we have kangaroos plotting home invasions, now monkeys hurling rocks (makes a change from feces I guess). What gives? Have the animals finally had enough of us and our destructive ways?
What next I wonder? badgers letting down tires, hedgehogs being dropped from great heights?