Name that Monkey!
When scientists discover a new species, they are entitled to name it. When Robert Wallace and his colleagues Humberto Gomez, Adam Felton and Annika Felton discovered a new species of titi monkey, they chose to auction off that right to the highest bidder, to raise money for conservation of the the monkey’s habitat in Medidi National Park in Bolivia. Little is known about the monkey except that it is about a foot tall, weighs two pounds and likes fruit. In the morning pairs of them get together and “duet”, calling back and forth whilst clutching each other in “what resembles a human embrace”. Awww. Titi monkeys are monogamous, and the males do most of the child-rearing, bringing them to the mother only for nursing. They can live for up to twelve years.
Bidding opened yesterday, and currently stands at $12,000. Alas, a little out of my price range. The winner will have to adhere to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, so the monkey is unlikely to be named “Spankthe”. Bidding closes on the 3rd of March, at 7pm EST. Anyone got any name suggestions?
In other monkeynews: Koko, the famous signing Gorilla, has been accused of sexual harrassment by two former handlers, who allege that they were fired for refusing to show her their breasts, and are suing the Gorilla foundation. In light of recent discoveries, we should be all that surprised? The foundation denies the charges.
Trust Underblog to bring you the latest* on these and other stories.
*latest means second-hand stories culled from google news as and when I remember to perform my patented MonkeySearchTM.
March 6th, 2005 at 07:12
Reminds me of that worthy news article “Koko The Gorilla Now Just Flipping Everybody Off” from The Onion.
I have to say that I absolve you of all gerbil-related sin - even though it’s a week and a bit late. Wasn’t your fault. I hope.