Everything in moderation apparently applies to baby monkeys, as well. After binge-drinking stolen coffee on Sunday, Nov. 5, a 6-month-old monkey in Bangkok's Bang Khun Thien district passed out for 10 hours.
The male long-tailed macaque fell ill and passed out after drinking a strong brew coffee that he stole from an unattended plastic bag hanging from a tourist's motorcycle. A food vendor from the Khun Kala Floating Market saw the monkey and alerted a monkey welfare community page on Facebook, whose members brought the sick monkey to the Doctor Raiwin Pet Hospital. Veterinarians treated the monkey with a saline solution and carbon until he seemed better.
Once the monkey recovered, he was released back to his troop.
The group that took care of the baby monkey warned the public about leaving food - especially processed food - in areas highly frequented by macaques.
Feeding Macaques
The problem of macaques eating inappropriate food is not new. Early this year, Thailand's wildlife officials sent another monkey, nicknamed Uncle Fat, to a rehabilitation facility to undergo a strict diet control program. Uncle Fat, weighing about 58 pounds, also hailed from the Bang Khun Thien district. The animal gained so much fat from feeding on the unhealthy food given to him by residents and tourists.
"We gave him food that monkeys shouldn't eat, and this was totally preventable," lamented Supakarn Keawchot, the veterinarian who looked after Uncle Fat's health. He added that the monkey accumulated fat from high-sugar fruits and beverages.
The veterinarian released Uncle Fat back into the wild after three months of strict diet.
An early study revealed that monkeys placed on a restricted calorie diet may have longer and healthier lives. As a result of the calorie restriction, the monkeys lost substantial weight, had happier moods, and had better health overall. Animals that underwent calorie restriction saw their life expectancy increase by three years.
Macaques Are Intelligent Animals
Rhesus macaques are sexually dimorphic animals that grow to approximately 7.7 kilograms or almost 17 pounds. They live for about 25 years. For their easy upkeep while in captivity, these monkeys are often the subject of medical and biological research.
They are among the most intelligent animals. Many of them are willing to trade prizes to gain knowledge. A previous research found that macaques are curious animals eager to trade a sizeable chunk of their possession just to satisfy their curiosity.
Another study found that if only these animals had an altered brain wiring, they would have the capacity to talk as monkeys are already anatomically equipped for speech.
