A knife-wielding monkey became the “highlight of the day” for zoo visitors as they filmed him playing with the giant knife.
The Sulawesi crested macaque, who lives at Chester Zoo in Cheshire, found the utensil and began waving it at his fellow primates after it was accidentally left in an enclosure by a workman.
He picked up the folding pocketknife and was able to extract the sharp edge from its sheath before swinging it around near his fellow primates, who scraped it in an attempt to claim it for themselves.
Shocked visitors filmed the encounter from behind a safety glass panel – but let’s just say the chimpanzee slammed the tool against a wall to release the blade, going so far as to suggest that ‘he knew exactly what it (the blade) was’ .
The incident, believed to have occurred shortly after 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 9, drew comparisons to a scene in the 2011 sci-fi film Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Sulawesi’s crested macaque seen with ‘multi-tool’ tool after being left in enclosure at Chester Zoo
In scenes similar to the Planet of the Apes sci-fi film series, the ape swings the unfolded blade near his fellow apes.
Eyewitness Leanne Jones, 32, watched the events unfold with her daughters, aged four and nine.
She said The sun: ‘It was actually the highlight of the day.
“The kids loved it, they were running around telling everyone what was going on.
“We have informed the keepers. He (the macaque) managed to get it open, but dropped it almost immediately afterwards.
“Eventually they started fighting over it because it was on the floor, so there was a little bit of free for everyone. Everyone wanted the knife.’
Supermarket clerk Leanne says caretakers told her that a gardener was cutting down trees and doing maintenance work, and that he might have accidentally left the knife behind.
She added: “I was worried the kids would see it because they go back to school in September and get asked, ‘What did you do on your summer vacation?’
“They’ll have to say, ‘I went to Chester Zoo and saw a monkey with a knife.'”
Her partner Mark Shingler said the scene was something out of a Planet of the Apes movie.
He said, “It’s something we haven’t experienced before. He kept banging the blade against the wall to get it open, so it knew exactly what it was and what it wanted to do with it.
“A majority of the staff came forward and started making their own video of what was going on.
“Even though it’s a macaque, it still has a knife. It’s really just something in a Hollywood movie.”
Chester Zoo bosses have launched an investigation into how the knife ended up in the enclosure. Witnesses claim that staff told them a worker had left it
In the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the hyper-intelligent ape Caesar (above, played by Andy Serkis) rebels against humanity by stealing a keeper’s knife
In the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the hyper-intelligent ape Caesar – played by motion capture legend Andy Serkis – steals a keeper’s pocketknife before using it to free himself and lead a rebellion against humanity.
Employees reportedly told witnesses the knife would be recovered once the agitated group of monkeys calmed down.
Chester Zoo has since launched an investigation into how the incident took place, with a spokesperson confirming that a ‘multi-purpose’ tool was left in the enclosure.
Richard Byrne, a professor emeritus at the University of St Andrews and an expert on human-like behavior in animals, said it was “lucky” that the monkey did no harm.
However, he doesn’t believe the chimpanzee knew what he was holding, adding: “I don’t think you can argue that the monkey knew what the knife was unless he used the knife to cut something too hard to bite.”
Animal caretaker Jessica Welburn, of The Mobile Vet Company, said monkeys “absolutely love” utensils due to their close evolutionary relationship to humans.
She said: ‘They share so much of our DNA, so they’re very similar to us in many ways.
“It’s lucky no harm was done and I bet it was certainly eventful for visitors to the zoo.” I’m sure everyone went crazy!’
Chester Zoo is home to a tribe of Sulawesi crested macaques the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
It’s not the first time man-made contraptions have been used: one of the monkeys was the center of a copyright storm after taking a series of selfies with a camera owned by photographer David Slater.
The selfies, taken by a chimpanzee named Naruto, were deemed out of copyright because they were taken by an animal, which cannot legally claim to own a photo – a decision Slater claims cost him thousands of pounds.
A crested macaque in its natural habitat, in Tangkoko National Park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi
But in a later legal dispute with animal rights group Peta, a settlement was reached that allowed Slater to sell the photos — as long as he donated a quarter of the proceeds to a charity that cares for Naruto and his fellow monkeys.
In their natural habitat on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, crested macaques tend to gather in social groups of between 25 and 30 animals, but only 5,000 remain in the wild.
Deforestation works on the island have reduced the monkeys’ natural range, and poachers have hunted the animals to near extinction, as they are considered a local delicacy, served at special occasions such as weddings.
Chester Zoo is making efforts to protect the remaining macaque population, and in May keepers celebrated the birth of a new baby for mama Rumple.