Cartridge Monkey

No more McDonalds for munching monkeys

Friday 15 December, 2006

It would seem like the current consumer obsession with healthy living and diets isn't just a human thing.

According to reports, more than 200 Tibetan macaque monkeys from China are being put through something of a weight loss regime themselves after officials decided the monkey population was getting a little too chubby.

All that rich and fattening tourist food that the monkeys snack on has had a less than flattering impact on their waistlines as well as dulling their wild animal hunting instincts.

"A normal adult macaque weighs about 25 kilograms (55lbs), but many ballooned to 45 kilograms," Hu Yongzhong, director of the monkey protection reserve, said, according to the Shanghai Daily.

"Many of the monkeys had high blood pressure and a high lipid content due to the unhealthy diet."

The three-year diet imposed has caused disappointment among tourists to the area, who have also been told to stop feeding the local monkey clans. The paper reports that one American woman was distressed as she "brought the food all the way from home".

China's not the only place with problematic hungry monkeys. Rhesus macaques in New Delhi were reportedly nicking human food and biting passers-by as they ran riot in the city.

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No more McDonalds for munching monkeys

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