An adolescent running away after a furious row with his father is nothing unusual. Unfortunately, if you’re a four-year-old colobus monkey, you can’t just telephone for a lift home later once tempers have cooled.
The rare black-and-white colobus male is still on the loose after escaping from his enclosure at Belfast Zoo, Northern Ireland, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The 90cm-tall animal ran away following a dispute with his father and was later witnessed swinging animatedly from the wooden bars of a gazebo in a suburban garden before falling asleep on a windowsill.
However, before zookeepers could arrive with nets and tranquillising darts to recapture the monkey, he was off again and has not been spotted since.
The monkey’s age makes him the equivalent of about 18 or 19 in human years, Mark Challis from Belfast Zoo told the paper.
“He had a fall-out with his dad on Sunday morning and got out. Those guys live in extended families with one breeding male and a number of breeding females,” he said.
“He is at the stage when young males are trying to start their own families elsewhere.”
It is thought the monkey, which is native to Kenya, might have tried to challenge the dominant male in the 18-strong group and was sent packing, the paper said. — AFP