craftsman
************
- 24 Sep 2006
- 280
- 19
I live on an island with 6000 wild macaque monkeys roaming the mountains. It's an area of 500 square kilometres and consists almost totally of mountains and forest. You'd think that the monkeys would be lost somewhere deep in the trees – but no – they hang around watching traffic and stealing from orange trees.
To anyone who is not sure what they look like:
Vaguely cute in a planet of the apes kind of way.
But is everyone aware of the sheer menace of these cute furry primates.
These are merely the tip of the iceberg. The Washington post comments:
In some cities, the police talk of these mischievous balls of fur as mysterious adversaries:
The numbers are becoming so large that they are coming out of their natural habitats or that should probably read – so much of their natural habitats have been destroyed, that there is a growing need to control them. And the attempts to control where they roam seems to be more of a war between monkeys and humans:
The sad thing is however that…
But not where I live! The whole 6000 of them have no bounties on their heads and can roam at will.
Now through my daily interaction, I have learnt a few rules about monkeys which if you should meet one walking down the street or hanging from a tree or relaxing on the curb watching the cars speed by, might just save you from the wrath of the monkey.
Rule 1: Do not look cute little monkey in the eyes.
Cute little monkey then becomes sharp toothed monkey, and then sharp-toothed aggressive monkey and then attacking sharp-toothed aggressive monkey.
Rule 2: Monkeys are not alone
I caught two large males in my tree stealing persimmon and chased the buggers towards the bushes. Two minutes later they came back in a gang with five in total. The new ones looked real mean and were looking for a punch-up. I left them to it.
Rule 3: Monkeys hate red pepper, basil and aloe.
Who knows why but they do. Never leave home without them.
Rule 4: Do not run when a monkey attacks
Personally they have chased me to my motorbike and then when I was actually on it riding away. But the best thing to do if said monkey runs towards is stand your ground and it stops well before you and whimpers away.
Rule 5: Monkeys like humble humans
If you encounter a group of monkeys, keep your head down and sit quietly and they ignore you. I once had a young furball lean on my lap and drift off to sleep.
Rule 6: Do not take an onsen bath with a monkey
When monkeys relax in the warm water of an outside onsen, they do not unfortunately have any social control over which muscles they relax and before long there is a brown thing floating on the water surface.
Now….Can anyone add some more monkey rules or anything about Japanese macaques?
To anyone who is not sure what they look like:
Vaguely cute in a planet of the apes kind of way.
But is everyone aware of the sheer menace of these cute furry primates.
These are merely the tip of the iceberg. The Washington post comments:
In some cities, the police talk of these mischievous balls of fur as mysterious adversaries:
The numbers are becoming so large that they are coming out of their natural habitats or that should probably read – so much of their natural habitats have been destroyed, that there is a growing need to control them. And the attempts to control where they roam seems to be more of a war between monkeys and humans:
The sad thing is however that…
But not where I live! The whole 6000 of them have no bounties on their heads and can roam at will.
Now through my daily interaction, I have learnt a few rules about monkeys which if you should meet one walking down the street or hanging from a tree or relaxing on the curb watching the cars speed by, might just save you from the wrath of the monkey.
Rule 1: Do not look cute little monkey in the eyes.
Cute little monkey then becomes sharp toothed monkey, and then sharp-toothed aggressive monkey and then attacking sharp-toothed aggressive monkey.
Rule 2: Monkeys are not alone
I caught two large males in my tree stealing persimmon and chased the buggers towards the bushes. Two minutes later they came back in a gang with five in total. The new ones looked real mean and were looking for a punch-up. I left them to it.
Rule 3: Monkeys hate red pepper, basil and aloe.
Who knows why but they do. Never leave home without them.
Rule 4: Do not run when a monkey attacks
Personally they have chased me to my motorbike and then when I was actually on it riding away. But the best thing to do if said monkey runs towards is stand your ground and it stops well before you and whimpers away.
Rule 5: Monkeys like humble humans
If you encounter a group of monkeys, keep your head down and sit quietly and they ignore you. I once had a young furball lean on my lap and drift off to sleep.
Rule 6: Do not take an onsen bath with a monkey
When monkeys relax in the warm water of an outside onsen, they do not unfortunately have any social control over which muscles they relax and before long there is a brown thing floating on the water surface.
Now….Can anyone add some more monkey rules or anything about Japanese macaques?