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["Josh Greenman" <josh.greenman AT gmail.com>]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2120764,00.html

Monkeys get message on mobiles: don't touch

A troop of squirrel monkeys at London Zoo learnt the hard way after
showing too much interest in the latest mobile phones at the expense
of their usual pastimes.

The monkeys, in their new open enclosure, attempted to take the
objects from visitors who held them out to take photographs.

A short retraining exercise was developed. Zoo-keepers put a sticky
substance that the monkeys were known to dislike on old mobile phones
and handed them out. The monkeys quickly got the message and have
reverted to grooming, roaming and climbing.

Malcolm Fitzpatrick, curator of mammals at the zoo, said: "It's
important that the monkeys maintain their natural behaviour and
training them not to go for visitors' phones was essential to
achieving this."