A photograph of a Formosan macaque sitting in a cubicle at National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) in Kaohsiung has made a splash on social media, as it appears to show the monkey deeply absorbed in the humdrum of daily office life.
“We’re currently on winter vacation, but look who came to work in NSYSU’s Institute of Communications,” Facebook user Morgan Chang wrote on Facebook on Thursday in a post that included the photo, which shows the animal in an office looking down toward a desk behind a partition.
Association for Coexistence with Macaca Cyclopis secretary-general Lin Mei-yin (林美吟) yesterday said that the university campus lies within the habitat of the Formosan macaque, making them a common sight there.
Screen grab from Morgan Chang’s Facebook page
When monkeys are seen on campus, it does not necessarily mean that they are unable to find food in the wild, Lin said, adding that male macaques are often on the campus in winter searching for new social groups or mates.
NSYSU senior vice president Huang I-yu (黃義佑) said that the institution had previously installed screens to stop the animals accessing buildings and regularly reminds staff to keep doors closed.
The university has purchased paintball guns and has 10 dogs on campus that scare the monkeys away, Huang said.
There have been multiple incidents of macaques sneaking into student dormitories and taking packages of instant noodles or disturbing belongings, he said.
The Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau said that people should exercise caution around macaques and avoid feeding, bothering or otherwise making contact with them.
As of press time last night, the Facebook post had garnered more than 6,900 reactions and had been shared more than 4,600 times.
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