bakedbean

I was thinking of a nice walk on me tod to the Botanic Gardens this afternoon and have a look at the monkeys... then read the following in The Star Online

Two monkeys go berserk, maul guard
GEORGE TOWN: A 64-year-old security guard suffers injuries in an attack by a pair of wild macaques at a housing scheme here in Lengkok Jesselton, near the Penang Municipal Park.

V. Balakrishna said he was reading newspapers inside the guard house of a gated community when the incident happened at about 1pm yesterday.

“They just dashed in through the window and started attacking me.

“I could have suffered more serious injuries if I had not shielded my face and neck,” he said, adding the female macaque escaped but he managed to lock the male animal in the room before it could flee.
source: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.as...3076&sec=North

Mmm maybe I'd better take a bodyguard with me

nonthaburi

Not a fan of monkeys really , they can be vicious too as that guy found out . Don't take any bananas out with you !!

ajw

I agree! Was at the Berjaya in Langkawi over CNY and some of the monkeys there were overly bold and quite nasty. We try to avoid places here where monkeys are an 'attraction'.

akee

Now if guns were legal in Malaysia, we would have a money frenzy...

bakedbean

I think it depends which type of monkey. The macaques are little devils for sure.

I love the dusky leaf monkeys. My current avatar is of a baby one. They are just gorgeous and very placid. A pic below that I took a couple of years ago at the Botanic Garden.

ajw

Sorry BB, still not sold. Can't get past the sharp fangs and rabies *shudder*

bakedbean

Noooooo... I'm telling ya they are very placid and non aggressive. Apparently if they have a little tiff amongst themselves, they reconcile very quickly with a hug.... awwww bless I want one.

Here's a bit from the 'net:

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR:
The dusky leaf-monkey can have a social system of two types: multimale-multifemale or unimale (Curtin and Chivers, 1978). This is a territorial species where home range boundaries rarely overlap (Curtin, 1976; MacKinnon and MacKinnon, 1980). Territories might be maintained because of the territorial honks emitted by the adult male (Curtin, 1980). Solitary individuals are known to occur of both sexes (Curtin, 1976; Curtin and Chivers, 1978). Adult males do not interact with many members of the group; their roles are confined to predator detection, maintenance of group cohesion during travel, and defense of territorial boundaries (Curtin, 1976, 1980). Males will not become aggressive with intruders; rather hide with the rest of the group (Curtin, 1980). As compared to the banded langur, the dusky leaf-monkey has a higher frequency of social interactions within the group (Curtin, 1980). Infants will be transferred between females, and sometimes one adult female will watch as many as four infants while the other females rest and feed (Curtin, 1976, 1980; Badham, 1967). Juveniles will be associated more with an adult female than with members of their own peer group, which is different from banded langurs (Curtin, 1980).

Aggression is low amongst group members (Curtin, 1976, 1980). When aggression does occur amongst group members, there is a high rate of reconciliation (Arnold and Barton, 1997, 2001a). Affiliative dyadic relationships, and not kinship and rank, are associated with conciliatory tendencies (Arnold and Barton, 1997, 2001a). Ventro-ventro hugging (embracing) is an important behavior during reconciliation (Arnold and Barton, 1997, 2001a). Former opponents will engage in hugging as will victims with a third party who with they have a strong bond (Arnold and Barton, 1997, 2001b). Social grooming was the most popular first contact behavior after an agonistic encounter (Arnold and Barton, 2001b). The intensity of aggression was not found to have an effect on the likelihood of reconciliation to occur (Arnold and Barton, 2001a). Reconciliation was found to occur within three minutes after an agonistic encounter (Arnold and Barton, 2001a). Reconciliation can be initiated by the recipient of aggression or the aggressor (Arnold and Barton, 2001a).
source: http://www.theprimata.com/trachypithecus_obscurus.html

akee

I am always looking up when attending class at the seminary. These dudes sometimes take a poop or a pee at you. What's worse is they tend to do their business on the walkway... So you have to look up and look down while going to class...

bakedbean