Clips of a Formosan rock macaque caring for six stray kittens and its maternal actions — especially around Mother’s Day — have drawn significant attention from Taiwanese netizens.
In the clip (https://youtu.be/vrV4gMFu8TM), a monkey dubbed Positi (破四弟) by “father of Formosan macaques” Lin Chin-fu (林金福) — who is known for his years of working to conserve the species — was seen cradling and grooming the kittens.
Positi fought other macaques for food for the kittens and was seen teasing the kittens to sleep like it would a baby monkey.
Photo courtesy of Lin Mei-mei
Formosan rock macaques watch group spokesperson Lin Mei-mei (林美美) said the monkey’s actions are probably related to monkeys’ birthing season, which is under way.
Baby kittens are afraid of the cold and thus have low survival rates in the wild, she said.
With female monkeys starting to take care of their young, Positi is probably imitating their actions, Lin said.
Four of the kittens are now being kept at Lin’s house; one died and another was adopted.
The Shoushan National Park census estimates that there are between 1,100 and 1,400 Formosan rock macaques in the park.
Sipu Junior High School General Affairs Division director Lin Chin-fu (林金福) said the macaques would not have killed the kittens, adding that the kittens were sent to veterinarians for checkups and received clean bills of health.
National park official Hsu Shu-kuo (許書國) said that unless the cats disturbed the monkeys they would remain safe.
Hsu urged local residents not to abandon their pets.
If such abandonment continues, then the population of cats might well become a threat to the macaques natural habitats, Hsu added.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS