Monkeys, Hippos, Chicken, Robocops & College Campuses
These kinds of stories grab my attention.
Shailaja Neelakantan reports that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been invaded by a troop of rhesus macaques, and no one can figure out how to get rid of them. A troop of 80 to 100 of the monkeys have terrorized the campus for several years, entering waiting rooms, biting people, and grabbing food from patients and visitors.
rhesus macaque photo by Daily Mail (UK).
"They'll take anything cold — Pepsi, Coke — but not hot coffee or tea," says Navin Gupta, a physician who has been among those battling the menace. "They don't like hot things." Last year, he says, several of the creatures smashed open HIV-infected blood samples in one of the laboratories. The institute has tried to get rid of the macaques. A monkey catcher managed to snare and relocate a few of them, but the remaining ones proved too wily to capture.
Officials enjoyed success, for a time, by resorting to simple bullying: They brought in a pair of langurs, monkeys that the macaques fear. "The langurs' owners used to lead them everywhere around campus with a leash to scare off the other monkeys," says D.K. Sharma, the institute's medical superintendent. Read More
Stories like this are common on university campuses. At Sacramento State University we had a chicken invasion. We would be reading Chaucer and suddenly a rooster would crow, and we would instinctively look at our watches, some of us at least. Those chickens wandered on campus for a long time, and I am sure they might still be there.
In 1993 I attended Gweru Teacher's College (Zimbabwe) for three months, January to March. I remember it rained non-stop for many weeks, and the college woke up one morning to find TV crews and newspapers journalists crowded around the college swamp where a huge hippo had been seen. The residents of Senga (located near the college) had seen the huge animal as it made its way to the college. I remember classes were cancelled and we were on the news everywhere, but I never really saw the hippo.
At the University of Zimbabwe, there were constant invasions of riot police in their robbocop attire, always deployed and on alert to stop any possible student activism with tear-gas.
Every college campus has its own story.
Shailaja Neelakantan reports that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been invaded by a troop of rhesus macaques, and no one can figure out how to get rid of them. A troop of 80 to 100 of the monkeys have terrorized the campus for several years, entering waiting rooms, biting people, and grabbing food from patients and visitors.
rhesus macaque photo by Daily Mail (UK). "They'll take anything cold — Pepsi, Coke — but not hot coffee or tea," says Navin Gupta, a physician who has been among those battling the menace. "They don't like hot things." Last year, he says, several of the creatures smashed open HIV-infected blood samples in one of the laboratories. The institute has tried to get rid of the macaques. A monkey catcher managed to snare and relocate a few of them, but the remaining ones proved too wily to capture.
Officials enjoyed success, for a time, by resorting to simple bullying: They brought in a pair of langurs, monkeys that the macaques fear. "The langurs' owners used to lead them everywhere around campus with a leash to scare off the other monkeys," says D.K. Sharma, the institute's medical superintendent. Read More
Stories like this are common on university campuses. At Sacramento State University we had a chicken invasion. We would be reading Chaucer and suddenly a rooster would crow, and we would instinctively look at our watches, some of us at least. Those chickens wandered on campus for a long time, and I am sure they might still be there.
In 1993 I attended Gweru Teacher's College (Zimbabwe) for three months, January to March. I remember it rained non-stop for many weeks, and the college woke up one morning to find TV crews and newspapers journalists crowded around the college swamp where a huge hippo had been seen. The residents of Senga (located near the college) had seen the huge animal as it made its way to the college. I remember classes were cancelled and we were on the news everywhere, but I never really saw the hippo.
At the University of Zimbabwe, there were constant invasions of riot police in their robbocop attire, always deployed and on alert to stop any possible student activism with tear-gas.
Every college campus has its own story.
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