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Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

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Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#271

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

unmole wrote: post #197
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect most animals that still exist to at the very least not be a major threat to humans - because if they are, they tend to cease to exist.

Depends on your definition of major . Mosquitoes still exist despite nearly a million people dying from the diseases they transmit each yaar. Stray dogs in India are responsible for tens of thousands rabies deaths annually. Yet it's illegal to cull them.

I'm surprised about the stray dogs.

The mosquitoes are being worked on.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#272

Post by nashashmi »

bckr wrote: post #143
nashashmi wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most animals are capable of revenge. Story: A family in Palestine were doing a routine cleaning of the house. They had a snake nest in the house and it was no pet snake. So to clean better they put the nest and eggs in a different corner. The snake came back looking for the nest and could not find it. It looked around with no luck. It went to the family water vase (because there was no piped water supply) and spit in…

That's an interesting story, albeit one that sounds like a good fairy tale. Any source for this?

I know a member of the family first hand through my workplace who told me and a few others. The guy was about 55 years old at the time (7-8 years ago) when he narrated the story. He was a Palestinian but in Jordan at the time it happened and was there before he reached age 18. (I should not have stated he was in Palestine.) I am not sure what other details I can provide beyond name for this narration.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#273

Post by fault1 »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #268
rg111 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These monkeys are not fatally dangerous if that's what GP is saying. But they cause heavy and serious nuisance. Where I live, these monkeys invade gradens, agricultural fields, house rooftops at least 4-5 times a month. The locals drop anything they do, and chase away these monkeys. When chased by an adult male human, these monkeys don't fight back and are easily frightened. They don't mess with adult males or groups…

> An adult male cannot physically take on a monkey. Really? I would expect that the inevitable injuries aren't worth it, but I'd expect this to be the case on both sides, with the monkey ending up significantly worse off if the human were to actually consider it a fight-to-kill-or-be-killed, not a "make the nuisance go away". What I don't understand though: If the monkeys are such a nuisance, why are they tolerated?…

yes, i'd say there is both societal taboo (especially outright culling them rather than just throwing stones at them to chase them away) and legal restrictions: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/world/asia/fed-by-indians...

I would say that at least in north east india, monkeys didn't seem to be a huge problem. There are langurs everywhere, but they mostly stick to trees or the jungle, or sometimes the outskirts of towns. I think it's probably because they have plenty of places to eat there relative to the more urbanized parts of the country.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#275

Post by fellowniusmonk »

jdavis703 wrote: post #108
jimmyed wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wonder how many times this has been done with humans throughout history

When America was trying to install a “democratic” government in Iraq there were a series of assassinations. In that case however the situation eventually stabilized. So that strategy is only as good as your opponents will. And it turns out there’s a lot of men who are willing to throw away their life in the hope of the power, money and prestige of being the top boss.

I don't doubt that gambling it all for power, money and prestige is the most frequent motivation, but I think you do humanity a disservice when you don't also include principled... weirdos that believe things and count the cost do exist within the human race.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#276

Post by mattkrause »

polotics wrote: post #260
throwaway2331 wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An adult male cannot physically take on a monkey. It is impossible. Still they don't attack. Are you positive? A chimpanzee: yes. A guerilla: indubitable. But a monkey? They seem like medium-sized dogs, that can move around quicker and more freely. They'll bite out your flesh, and perhaps maim you to a semi-serious degree (including infection), but I cannot fathom a monkey seriously killing a grown adult male human…

A Macaque, maybe 15 kg in weight, has the aggression claws and muscle to take on any non-beefy human and win, not doubt about that.

Male macaques also have very large canines, and massive jaw muscles to use them. A bite that severs a major blood vessel could end very badly.

They also move a lot more...three-dimensionally than you might imagine, making it hard to predict where they're going.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#277

Post by perl4ever »

cute_boi wrote: post #213
rg111 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These monkeys are not fatally dangerous if that's what GP is saying. But they cause heavy and serious nuisance. Where I live, these monkeys invade gradens, agricultural fields, house rooftops at least 4-5 times a month. The locals drop anything they do, and chase away these monkeys. When chased by an adult male human, these monkeys don't fight back and are easily frightened. They don't mess with adult males or groups…

I understand but aren't we to be blame for this? We took their home, we took their shelter and what can they do? And they don't have enough wisdom to know who they should harm and who they shouldn't. And many of monkey i know here are too friendly but yea after they starts to live with humans they learn to hoodwink people because many thieves are known to use monkey to snatch valuables from tourist by providing banan…

There have been articles, probably also threads on HN, about monkeys enslaved and used to harvest crops or something. I don't remember all the details, but they pull out their teeth so they can't bite, and coerce them into working much faster than humans could.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#278

Post by perl4ever »

technothrasher wrote: post #183
Retric wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general rule that’s true but useless. Humans are relatively large animals that most creatures don’t want to mess with. But a hippo for example isn’t discouraged by this. Also the deadliest North American wildlife is the deer almost entirely because they’re jumping in front of cars.

> Also the deadliest North American wildlife is the deer Actually, the deadliest North American wildlife is the mosquito.

Malaria was once endemic in the US, but that was a while ago, right?

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#279

Post by s1artibartfast »

FlyingSnake wrote: post #119
unmole wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Langoor monkeys are a fearsome force in India and not to be messed with. I thought langoors were more friendly towards humans compared to macaques?

As a general rule, animals never attack first. When humans encroach the traditional lands of the animals there are conflicts waiting to happen. Monkeys are smart and usually don’t bother humans, unless it’s a matter of food or threat to their group. Edit: I'm surprised at the downvotes, isn't human-wildlife conflict in Indian forests well documented?

>As a general rule, animals never attack first.

Nonsense. There is a long list of predator species that will opportunistically feed on humans.

As you yourself point out, many other animals that can't eat a human will attack if they feel threatened or competition.

Be careful around all large animals.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#280

Post by s1artibartfast »

zuminator wrote: post #241
drclau wrote: post #105

If you are in doubt about this being revenge, because you think revenge is exclusively a human behavior, then have a look at the Gombe Chimpanzee War [0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War

I am still in doubt about this being revenge. I'm not necessarily saying it isn't, but doesn't culling the dogs as a means of pest control also fit the hypothesis? I mean, if a baby in a human town was bit by a rat, we humans would react by trying to eradicate the local rat population. You could call that revenge I guess, but normally we wouldn't ascribe such a passionate motive to our behavior, we would say it was l…

Logic and emotion need not be at odds. In fact, in a natural setting, emotions are almost always aligned with logical self preservation and advancement.
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