Monkey Revives Monkey - A video of a heroic monkey in the northern Indian city of Kanpur has been making rounds on the internet this week and definitely raises some questions about human understanding of simians.
The 'monkey revives monkey' video, which was uploaded by Reuters this past weekend, shows a monkey frantically attempting to revive another monkey at a railway station in Uttar Pradesh.
At the beginning of the one-minute video, the heroic monkey is shown approaching an unconscious monkey with another companion, who stands away and watches as it attempts to revive the simian. Reports indicate that the comatose monkey had stepped on high tension wires on top of the railway station.
The heroic monkey starts by hitting the unconscious simian. When this fails, it resorts to biting it - first on the back and then on the neck. When this also fails, it desperately dunks the unconscious monkey into a nearby pool of water. Shortly afterwards, the slumped over monkey is shown coming back to life. This attracted the cheers of several railway commuters nearby, who had stood transfixed for nearly 30 minutes as the hero simian saved its companion. Some people even whipped out their phones to record the impressive attempt. It is unclear why no one attempted to offer the hero monkey some assistance in resuscitating its companion.
The 'monkey revives monkey' video has gone viral since it appeared online this past week. Some commentators have noted that the feat of the monkey is evidence that simians and other animals who display high intelligence should be labeled as non-human persons.
Meanwhile, the 'monkey saves monkey' video has also raised questions about the safety of simians in India. Thousands of monkeys roam freely in the country. But as India rapidly develops, questions are being asked about the presence of monkeys in the cities. The simians are known to sometimes steal food from markets and commuters.
