This is how Planet of the Apes starts as Coronavirus slams the World

nivek

As Above So Below


Monkey laundering: Wild animal stuns woman by hand-washing her clothes in Indonesia

This is the astonishing moment a wild monkey was seen hand-washing clothes outside a house in Indonesia. In the clip, Ayu Sarasyani had left a bowl full of dirty clothes soaking in water and detergent outside her home in South Kalimantan province. But when she returned to finish off the chore, she was stunned to find a wild-long tailed monkey had stepped in to give her a helping hand.

Imitating how she scrubs dirt off the clothes outside her house, the primate begins by dipping the clothes in the water while perched on the edge of the large green bowl. The monkey then lifts them out of the soapy water before scrubbing them, repeating the action several times. At one point the clothes are spread out onto the concrete floor as the monkey gets knee deep into cleaning them with rigour.

It gently pats the washing against the floor as if to dislodge any stubborn dirt or soap in the 40 second clip. And unlike most of us, this monkey seems to be rather enjoying all the soap, scrub, soak, rinse, wring action of cleaning clothes which was shared on social media yesterday.

Ayu said: 'I was amazed to see it taking over my work, but I immediately went inside the house and watched from my window. The woman stayed inside while filming the unusual scene out of fear of being attacked in case the animal was startled.

Wild monkeys often come to the area and stay in empty buildings and houses while searching for food. As this monkey was solo, Ayu believes the smart primate may have become separated from the group.

She said: 'They come here from time to time and stay for at least two days. They are usually in big groups but this one was alone, so it could have been lost.' Ayu threw a piece of bread and banana to the monkey to distract it from the clothes before it left her front yard.

She also lodged an incident report to the local officials in case the monkey was lost and needed to be reunited with its group.

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Standingstones

Celestial
Fierce War Between Simians in Agra Claims Two Human Lives

A fierce war between two groups of monkeys in the heart of the Taj city took two human lives.

Ghatia Azam Khan police chowki men said an old house in the Satsang Gali was under repair. The owner and a labourer were standing close to a wall that had to be demolished. Just then armies of monkeys fighting for territorial rights ransacked and jumped all over the area, bringing the damaged wall down on Monday evening.

The two men were crushed under the rubble and debris and could not be saved due to severe head injuries. The deceased Laxman Tulisiani, a gold valuer, and Veera, a beldaar, were on the second floor of the dilapidated house when the wall of the third floor fell over them due to more than 35 monkeys locked in a furious showdown.

The injured were rushed to the GG Nursing Home, but could not be saved.

Locals have demanded rounding of monkeys from the city. Agra citizens have appealed to the district administration to take effective steps to curb simian nuisance in the city.

Mayor of the Agra Municipal Corporation, Navin Jain, has been asked to shift the monkeys from the city to the forest areas, as there have been a series of fatal cases. The Corporation had launched a drive a few years ago, but animal rights groups stalled the exercise.

Locals demand drastic action against rampaging monkeys who have made life difficult for people living in old city areas.

Agra these days is living in the scare of bovine, canine, and simian menace. Even tourists have become victims. Last year there was a hue and cry when a monkey snatched a newly born from the lap of a mother and killed the infant, in Runukta village, 20 km away.

The district authorities had then made a number of promises but nothing much happened.

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Those Indians better hope that those sacred cows don’t start an uprise.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Scientists splice human genes into monkey brains to make them bigger, smarter

What could go wrong?

Scientists made monkey brains double in size by splicing them with human genes in a “Planet of the Apes”-style experiment.

During the study, Japanese and German researchers injected a gene called ARHGAP11B — which directs stem cells in the human brain — into the dark matter of marmoset fetuses, according to a release about the research.

They found that the primates’ brains soon became more human-like by developing larger, more advanced neocortexes — the area that controls cognition and language, according to the study published in the journal Science in June.

According to images released by the researchers, the modified monkey brains nearly doubled in size at around 100 days into gestation.

“We found indeed that the neocortex of the common marmoset brain was enlarged and the brain surface folded,” said study author Michael Heide.

The neocortex is the newest part of the brain to evolve — one sign that ARHGAP11B may have caused brain growth during human evolution, the researchers said.

Ultimately, scientists opted to abort the monkey fetuses due to “unforeseeable consequences,” according to the release.

The study — conducted by the Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Germany and the Central Institute for Experimental Animals in Japan — is reminiscent of the 2011 flick “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” in which a race of genetically modified primates turn against humans and take over the Earth.

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nivek

As Above So Below
Pet 200-pound chimp killed by officers after it attacks Connecticut woman

A highly trained 200-pound chimpanzee who once starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola was shot dead by police after a violent rampage that left a friend of its owner badly mauled. Sandra Herold, the owner of the 15-year-old chimp named Travis, wrestled with the animal after it inexplicably attacked her friend Monday when the visitor got out of her car in front of Herold's home.

"She retrieved a large butcher knife and stabbed her longtime pet numerous times in an effort to save her friend, who was really being brutally attacked," said Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin.

The injured woman suffered facial injuries and blood loss. She was hospitalized late Monday in very serious condition at Stamford Hospital, police said. Her identity was not immediately released. "There was no provocation that we know of. One thing that we're looking into is that we understand the chimpanzee has Lyme disease and has been ill from that, so maybe from the medications he was out of sorts. We really don't know," Conklin said.

After the initial attack, Travis ran away and started roaming Herold's property until police arrived, setting up security so medics could reach the critically injured woman, Conklin said.

But the chimpanzee returned and went after several of the officers, who retreated into their cars, Conklin said. Travis knocked the mirror off a cruiser before opening its door and starting to get in, trapping the officer.

That officer shot the chimpanzee several times, Conklin said.

The wounded chimpanzee fled the scene, but Conklin said police were able to follow the trail of his blood: down the driveway, into the open door of the home, through the house and to his living quarters, where he had retreated and died of his wounds.

Herold and two officers also received minor injuries, police said. A message seeking comment was left Monday night at Herold's home. The chimpanzee was well-known around Stamford because he rode around in trucks belonging to the towing company operated by his owners.

Police have dealt with him in the past, including an incident in 2003 when he escaped from his owners' vehicle in downtown Stamford for two hours. Officers used cookies, macadamia treats and ice cream in an attempt to lure him, but subdued him only after he became too tired to resist.

At the time of the 2003 incident, police said the Herolds told them the chimpanzee was toilet trained, dressed himself, took his own bath, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass. He also brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, logged onto the computer to look at pictures, and watched television using the remote control, police said.

When he was younger, Travis appeared on TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola, made an appearance on the "Maury Povich Show" and took part in a television pilot, according to a 2003 story in The Advocate newspaper of Stamford.

"He's been raised almost like a child by this family," Conklin said Monday. "He rides in a car every day, he opens doors, he's a very unique animal in that aspect. We have no indication of what provoked this behavior at all."

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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
This'll put you off your feed.

Looks like a repeat story. It happened in 2009 and the thing ATE HER FACE AND HER HANDS. She lost her eyes too from it ‘He's Eating Her! Shoot Him!' Screamed Chimp's Owner

It wasn't her pet either - it belonged to her employer.


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nivek

As Above So Below
Monkeys given Covid-19 vaccine receive strict care

Monkeys given a trial Covid-19 vaccine will be closely monitored until January, or four months from the time of vaccination.

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday on Reu Island off the northern province of Quang Ninh, Vu Cong Long, the animal farm head at the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (Polyvac), unlocked the captivity area to feed the monkeys brown rice mixed with black beans and peanuts for lunch.

As he picked up each handful of rice and dropped into a trough, he said, "This diet is very special."

The food has to be clean and does not contain pesticide or chemical residues. Every day the monkeys eat two meals besides fruits and sugarcane to help them eat more and absorb better.

Reu Island is home to over 1,000 rhesus macaques and 12 of them were selected for the trials for the vaccine produced by the Hanoi-based Vaccine and Biological Production Company No. 1 (Vabiotech).

They are aged three to five years, do not suffer from diseases like TB or HIV and stay in individual cages.

The first batch of six monkeys was vaccinated on October 27, and after two months all are healthy. The remaining were vaccinated in early December. Rhesus macaques are selected for research because they have fewer pathogens, and before being vaccinated the 12 were kept in cages for a month to ensure they were free of diseases.

The number of people they are exposed to is limited to reduce the risk of contracting infections. Every morning staff check their temperature, eyes for brightness and whether they are active.

If there is any sign of illness, they check for the likely cause and record it in notebooks to report to the vaccine manufacturers and researchers. One week after vaccination is the critical time since the monkeys could develop side effects. It requires two or three people to hold down a monkey to check the temperature and injection site for swelling or congestion.

"Luckily, the monkeys are all healthy and can still fight or attack," Pham Xuan Thai, an employee in the lab, said.

Long said, "We have not seen any monkeys showing abnormal signs."

After four months, if the monkey have no abnormal signs or fever, and eat normally, researchers would check their organs for internal damage. If all the results are acceptable, the process of approval for human trials will begin.

Over 30 years of raising and caring for monkeys Long has not seen any vaccine causing side effects.

Vabiotech is the second Covid-19 vaccine to be tested on monkeys on the island after Nanogen, and both have gone well so far. Last week Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC began human trials on three volunteers, who are in stable condition after getting a 25mg dose.

Another 17 received the same dose on Tuesday, and health officials have high expectations for the vaccine. Polyvac and the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (Ivac) are also working on vaccines.

IVAC and Vabiotech’s products are expected to enter human trials in early 2021.

Vietnam also has plans to import vaccines. Globally 11 vaccines have entered phase three clinical trials. Vietnam is one of the few countries in Southeast Asia to produce Covid-19 vaccines so far.

It has managed to keep the number of cases down to 1,420 and deaths to 35 in a population of 96 million thanks to its rapid and strict quarantine and tracking measures.

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nivek

As Above So Below
Troop of Monkeys Seen Roaming Around Cemetery in Cincinnati

In a bizarre story out of Cincinnati, authorities are on the lookout for a troop of monkeys said to have been spotted roaming around a cemetery in the city. According to a local media report, the strange sighting occurred on Wednesday evening when residents living near St. Joseph's Cemetery noticed what appeared to be five monkeys climbing some trees at the site. Although they were understandably stunned by what they were seeing, one quick-thinking witness managed to capture the very odd scene on video. In the footage, which can be seen below, several dark forms sit on the branches of a tree and the observers can be heard expressing their wonderment at the weird sight.

When cops were called to investigate, however, the monkeys were nowhere to be found, causing the case to take something of odd turn. While the authorities believe the sighting to be real, no one from the Cincinnati police department has actually seen the simians for themselves despite conducting a fairly thorough search. As such, David Orban of the Cincinnati Zoo, who is helping the investigation, mused that "there's not much we can do until we have a confirmed sighting." He also cast some doubt upon the video, noting that "numerous types of animals can occupy trees." To that end, it is rather hard to discern what exactly was filmed in the trees, though the reaction of the witnesses would seem to suggest that they were seeing something out of the ordinary.

For now, police continue to be cognizant of the possibility that there could be a troop of monkeys on the loose in the city and have advised residents not to approach the animals if they encounter them. As for where the creatures could have come from, authorities theorize that they likely escaped from the home of a private collector, since the primates at the Cincinnati Zoo all remain present in their enclosures. It remains to be seen if cops will be able to locate the creatures, much less capture them or if the case will wind up going cold and the tale of the cemetery monkeys turn into an urban legend in the city.



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nivek

As Above So Below
c357b3bbc5acfef08be978424b25bf6b


Watch a monkey equipped with Elon Musk's Neuralink device play Pong with its brain

Elon Musk's Neuralink, one of his many companies and the only one currently focused on mind control (that we're aware of), has released a new blog post and video detailing some of its recent updates — including using its hardware to make it possible for a monkey to play Pong with only its brain.

In the video above, Neuralink demonstrates how it used its sensor hardware and brain implant to record a baseline of activity from this macaque (named "Pager") as it played a game on-screen where it had to move a token to different squares using a joystick with its hand. Using that baseline data, Neuralink was able to use machine learning to anticipate where Pager was going to be moving the physical controller, and was eventually able to predict it accurately before the move was actually made.

Researchers then removed the paddle entirely, and eventually did the same thing with Pong, ultimately ending up at a place where Pager no longer was even moving its hand on the air on the nonexistent paddle, and was instead controlling the in-game action entirely with its mind via the Link hardware and embedded neural threads.

(More on the link)

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nivek

As Above So Below
Scientists create human-monkey hybrid embryos in a lab

“Has science gone too far?” has become something of a meme of late. People post the question sarcastically on images of homemade Oreos with cream from 100 of the cookies, or a fast-food sandwich where the buns are replaced with fried chicken. It’s funny, but scientists are now legitimately asking the question after a team of researchers revealed that they have created chimera embryos in the lab.

A chimera is a hybrid of two species. In this case, scientists working on new possibilities for creating lab-grown organs for human transplants created early embryos that are half-human and half-monkey. The idea is that if scientists can grow parts of animals in the lab, and those pieces are close enough to humans to be used for transplants, a limitless supply of new organs could be on the horizon. The problem? They’re growing human/monkey hybrids in a lab for the purpose of slicing them up and sticking the pieces in living humans.

Scientists have experimented with using certain types of human stem cells in animal embryos in the past, including in pigs and mice. They found that the tissues were simply too different to allow for strong integration. Monkeys, on the other hand, are much more closely related to humans, and when using human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in cynomolgus monkey embryos in the lab, they found that the human cells integrated at a might deeper level.

Interspecies chimera formation with human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) represents a necessary alternative to evaluate hPSC pluripotency in vivo and might constitute a promising strategy for various regenerative medicine applications, including the generation of organs and tissues for transplantation.
So, scientists found a way to get human stem cells to play nicely with monkey embryos, but that’s not all. They also found that the cells communicated in a way that they didn’t necessarily expect. The findings suggest that there’s a lot to learn about the evolutionary paths of both humans and primates, and it may aid in the development of hybrids in the future, for better or worse.
We also uncovered signaling events underlying interspecific crosstalk that may help shape the unique developmental trajectories of human and monkey cells within chimeric embryos. These results may help to better understand early human development and primate evolution and develop strategies to improve human chimerism in evolutionarily distant species.
Ultimately we’re going to have to make a choice as a species. Are we okay with creating what are essentially organ farms, where we exploit nature (including other species) in order to grow organs for transplant into humans? Could it eventually save human lives? Almost certainly yes. But those lives will be saved after we create a new hybrid species, at least in part, and then kill and harvest its organs. Creepy.

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nivek

As Above So Below


Epic Monkey War Erupts in Thai City

A city in Thailand saw traffic come to a sudden halt when the streets were overrun by an epic battle that unfolded between rival gangs of monkeys. The wild scene, which was caught on film by amazed residents, reportedly erupted in the community of Lopburi last week. Much to the chagrin of commuters, hundreds of monkeys amassed in huge groups and faced off at an intersection in the city. After a few minutes of bluster and screeching, the creatures engaged in combat while drivers took cover inside their vehicles and watched the fight unfold.

It is believed that the proverbial monkey war was sparked by a scarcity of food as Lopburi is a popular tourist destination that has been hard by the pandemic, which has led to fewer visitors feeding the creatures that call the city home. Perhaps owing to this ongoing predicament, one local source indicated that the specific showdown between the simians was something of a turf war between three separate groups of monkeys likely looking to increase their territory in the snack-deprived city.

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michael59

Celestial
We are responsible for them because we made them dependent upon us. We should be out there with truck loads of fruit and nuts and vegetables and not just in Thai City.
 

Standingstones

Celestial


Epic Monkey War Erupts in Thai City

A city in Thailand saw traffic come to a sudden halt when the streets were overrun by an epic battle that unfolded between rival gangs of monkeys. The wild scene, which was caught on film by amazed residents, reportedly erupted in the community of Lopburi last week. Much to the chagrin of commuters, hundreds of monkeys amassed in huge groups and faced off at an intersection in the city. After a few minutes of bluster and screeching, the creatures engaged in combat while drivers took cover inside their vehicles and watched the fight unfold.

It is believed that the proverbial monkey war was sparked by a scarcity of food as Lopburi is a popular tourist destination that has been hard by the pandemic, which has led to fewer visitors feeding the creatures that call the city home. Perhaps owing to this ongoing predicament, one local source indicated that the specific showdown between the simians was something of a turf war between three separate groups of monkeys likely looking to increase their territory in the snack-deprived city.

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How long until we have a monkey roundup?
 

nivek

As Above So Below


 

nivek

As Above So Below
Strange Tales of Monkeys on the Rampage, and Monsters and More!
By Nick Redfern

Situated just west of Dorchester, England is a place called Monkey’s Jump, at which, today, a roundabout and cafe exist, but which may have been the original crossroads in the area (crossroads, interestingly, play integral roles in many tales of a paranormal nature). A number of theories exist to explain the name, including the possibility that it was provoked by the escape – many decades ago – of a monkey from a traveling circus. Another, more intriguing, story, however, tells of a woman, driving a pony and trap from Bridehead to Dorchester, at some point during the First World War. According to the story, on-board the trap was the woman’s small, pet monkey that duly escaped at what is now Monkey’s Jump, scarpered up a tree, and which, after refusing to come down, was eventually shot for being a German spy! The “Monkey’s Jump” story is very similar to a tale that originated in 1879 in central England. It’s the saga of the Man-Monkey that haunted Bridge 39 on the Shropshire Union Canal, England. It was within the packed pages of Charlotte Sophia Burne’s book of 1883, Shropshire Folklore that the dangerous antics of what some have since perceived to be the closest thing that the U.K. may have to the North American Bigfoot and the Yeti of the Himalayas, were first unleashed upon an unsuspecting general public.

Man-Monkey-Book-Cover.jpg


According to Burne: “A very weird story of an encounter with an animal ghost arose of late years within my knowledge. On the 21st of January 1879, a laboring man was employed to take a cart of luggage from Ranton in Staffordshire to Woodcock, beyond Newport in Shropshire, for the ease of a party of visitors who were going from one house to another. He was late in coming back; his horse was tired, and could only crawl along at a foot’s pace, so that it was ten o’clock at night when he arrived at the place where the highroad crosses the Birmingham and Liverpool canal.” It was then, Burne faithfully recorded, that the man received what was undoubtedly the most terrifying shock of his entire life – before or since, it seems pretty safe to assume: “Just before he reached the canal bridge, a strange black creature with great white eyes sprang out of the plantation by the roadside and alighted on his horse’s back. He tried to push it off with his whip, but to his horror the whip went through the thing, and he dropped it on the ground in fright.” Needless to say, Burne added: “The poor, tired horse broke into a canter, and rushed onward at full speed with the ghost still clinging to its back. How the creature at length vanished, the man hardly knew.” But the story was far from over, Burne learned: “He told his tale in the village of Woodseaves, a mile further on, and so effectively frightened the hearers that one man actually stayed with friends there all night, rather than cross the terrible bridge which lay between him and his home.”

Still on the matter of horses, carts and strange beasts, I’ll address the Welsh Bwbach, a diminutive creature that can be friendly or dangerous. Back in 1880, Wirt Sikes – in his book British Goblins – recorded the following: “There was a Bwbach belonging to a certain estate in Cardiganshire, which took great umbrage at a Baptist preacher who was a guest in the house, and who was much fonder of prayers than of good ale.” For those who may not know, they’re small, goblin-like things, and sometimes covered in hair, and on other occasions not.” Sikes continued: “Now the Bwbach had a weakness in favor of people who sat around the hearth with their mugs and their pipes, and it took to pestering the preacher. One night it jerked the stool from under the good man’s elbows, as he knelt pouring forth prayer, so that he fell down on his face. Another time it interrupted the devotions by jangling the fire-irons on the hearth and it was continually making the dogs fall a-howling during prayers, or frightening the farm boy by grinning at him through the window, or throwing the maid into fits. At last it had the audacity to attack the preacher as he was crossing a field.” The story continues:

“The minister told the story in this wise: ‘I was reading busily in my hymn-book as I walked on, when a sudden fear came over me and my legs began to tremble. A shadow crept upon me from behind, and when I turned round – it was myself! – my person, my dress, and even my hymn-book. I looked in its face a moment, and then fell insensible to the ground.” And there, insensible still, they found him. This encounter proved too much for the good man, who considered it a warning to him to leave those parts. He accordingly mounted his horse next day and rode away. A boy of the neighborhood, whose veracity was, like that of all boys, unimpeachable, afterwards said that lie saw the Bwbach jump up behind the preacher, on the horse’s back. And the horse went like lightning, with eyes like balls of fire, and the preacher looking back over his shoulder at the Bwbach, that grinned from ear to ear.'” Wirt’s account ends.

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There are several threads to all of these stories that are worthy of note. In the tales of the Monkey Jump creature, and the Man-Monkey of the Shropshire Union Canal, we see the presence of either a pony and trap or a horse and cart; while the Welsh tale of the Bwbach involved a horse and rider. And, in all of these cases, the animals seem to have been of relatively small stature: even the Man-Monkey has been given a height of between four-and-a-half and five-feet, for the most part. Then, there is the matter of the Dorset monkey shot for being a German espionage agent. This is clearly an update of an even earlier, and very famous, story that dates way back to the Napoleonic Wars, when a monkey – said to have been dressed in the uniform of the French military of the day – was supposedly hanged in Hartlepool, England for being a French spy! Somewhere, in all of these tales, I’m sure there are ultimate truths still to be found and understood. Today, however, those truths, whatever they may be, are so deeply entangled in distortion, myth, legend and folklore that it seems most unlikely we’ll ever have the full, true answers we seek.

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nivek

As Above So Below
Marauding Monkeys Wage Rumored 'Revenge War' on Dogs in Indian Village

In a wild story out of India, a menacing troop of monkeys has declared war on a village's dog population and residents believe that the bizarre campaign of violence is being driven by revenge. According to a local media report, the site of the very strange conflict is the small community of Lavool, which is home to approximately 5,000 people. Around three months ago, villagers say, an incident occurred wherein an infant monkey was killed by some dogs and the fatal encounter sparked a thirst for revenge from the other simians living in the area. Since that time, it is claimed that a staggering 250 puppies have been killed by marauding troops of monkeys that snatch the unfortunate animals and drop them from great heights.

As one might imagine, residents of Lavool have grown fed up with their community being at the center of the interspecies war and turned to the country's forestry department for help. While workers have since captured two monkeys thought to be a part of the unsettling acts of aggression against the dogs, the agency stopped short of ascribing the strangeness to revenge. Acknowledging this belief among residents, an official told an area media outlet that "we do not have any proof to back up this theory. Its animal behavior and we cannot ascertain why they are behaving like this."

This stance was echoed by a local official in the village, who indicated that "to some extent, the news is true," but stressed that the actual number of puppies killed by the monkeys is uncertain as is the reason for the unnerving series of attacks. To that end, it has also been revealed that tales of the monkeys tossing the poor pups from great heights may be more of a product of the rumor mill as the sinister simians are said to more frequently opt for what might be the more monstrous methodology of bringing the young animals to rooftops and leaving them there where they eventually die of starvation. Those gruesome details aside, residents understandably just want the war to end and hope that the capture of the two monkeys may bring about some kind of peace between the creatures.

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nivek

As Above So Below
Esc-APE artist! Police warn public not to approach lab MONKEY that got away in Pennsylvania truck crash as they hunt it down and 'shoot dead' three other escapees



Four monkeys escaped in Pennsylvania after a truck transporting 100 crab-eating macaques to a lab crashed on Friday - three of the four have been captured, but locals have been warned not to approach the last dangerous holdout primate. State police urged people not to look for or capture the crab-eating macaque monkey following the crash on a State Route 54 near an Interstate 80 exit in Danville, about 130 miles from Philadelphia. 'Anyone who sees or locates the monkey is asked not to approach, attempt to catch, or come in contact with the monkey. Please call 911 immediately,' troopers tweeted. Trooper Lauren Lesher said the concern was 'due to it not being a domesticated animal and them being in an unknown territory. It is hard to say how they would react to a human approaching them.' One of the at-large monkeys was found in a tree, and three shots were later heard, according to local news station WNEP. The condition of the captured monkeys is not yet known.

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