Grey langurs (Semnopithecus entellus) are on patrol in India this week, in association with the impending Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Feeling threatened by rampant wildlife near their accommodations, some visiting teams began to threaten to pull out of the games if something wasn’t done quickly to alleviate pest problems in the city. Snakes, wild dogs, and small troops of monkeys are apparently causing quite a disturbance for the athletes, entering rooms for cover or to steal food and sometimes even attacking people in the streets. Solution? Employ large, aggressive langurs that are perfectly capable of driving wildlife away from villages where the athletes are staying. Utilized in India for a variety of purposes, langurs are incredibly intelligent and apparently well suited for such security detail. At time of printing, it is still undetermined as to whether they will be provided with pepper spray and batons.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 at 11:12 am and is filed under News Events, Primate Blog.