No Monkeying Around- It’s the Mating Season
This week a macaque monkey couldn’t take the stress of the mating season and was offski from his wildlife park home in the highlands in Cairngorms. He strayed into neighbouring gardens and went nuts attacking local bird feeders. The macaque went ape when he was part of a band of 30 monkeys and experts think he was feeling the heat in the troupe as the dominant male sought to win over all the single ladies.
The very same experts have been deploying thermal imaging cameras and drones in order to find the furry fugitive, a species which are also known as snow monkeys because of their habits of hanging around in the thermal pools of Japan, snow on their heads, while all around is frozen and snowbound. It’s the kind of behavior that sets David Attenborough cooing breathlessly into his microphone. And with this resistance to cold and wet they are ideally suited to the vagaries of the Scottish climate which nobody in their right mind can call balmy, despite a temperature inversion which caused a record January temperature of 19℃ recorded on Sunday in Kinlochewe in north-west Highlands. Talking of the Scottish weather did you see that a wind of 155mph was recorded in the Orkneys today from Storm Ingunn?
One happy couple found the monkey attacking their bird feeder and the missus wanted to go and make friends with the roving primate, but the husband who had been bitten by a rabid monkey in Thailand some 20 years previously cautioned against it. But they were still delighted to see the lovelorn chappie on their fence. The fugitive has been seen heading back to the wildlife reserve, driven by hunger and love perhaps and the whole of the local population is keeping its collective fingers crossed for a happy reunion with the monkey troupe long before St Valentine’s day.
Now we here at James Pirie don’t want your partner to go ape because you haven’t bought them a suitable Valentine’s day present and you don’t want to be lovelorn like the macaque so instead take a gander at our very good ideas for the day. We promise no monkeying around and fine quality and great service just for you. Love doesn’t come cheap, unless you are at the petrol station shop on February 14th, but here’s a half price offer for a very fine gift. Two Thistle Flower of Scotland Gin and Tonic Copa Glasses from Royal Scot Crystal presented in a lovely gift box. We’ll throw in free delivery and free gift wrapping, if you tick the box on checkout. The glasses are handsome pieces that trap the aromas and flavours of the beverage and they remember they will become instant family heirlooms. So don’t delay and don’t get massacred on St Valentine’s Day.
