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Monkeys use trees to catapult themselves out of Japanese laboratory

Monkeys at a research institute in Japan have used the branches of trees to catapult themselves over an electric fence in order to escape.

group of 15 monkeys at Kyoto University’s primate research institute in Aichi Prefecture, which are the focus of a string of high-profile scientific studies, escaped from their forest home which is encased by a 17ft high electric fence.

The monkeys made their bid for freedom by using tree branches to fling themselves one by one over the high voltage electric fence located nearly three metres away.

However, despite the intelligence shown in their great escape, the primates appeared unsure as to what to do with their newfound freedom: the monkeys remained by the gates of the research centre and were lured back into captivity by scientists armed with peanuts.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .