A monkey fell onto a transformer at the Gitaru hydroelectric power station in Kenya and caused a nationwide blackout on Tuesday.

KenGen, the operator of Gitaru dam and Kenya's largest electricity producer, posted a photo on Facebook of the dastardly monkey still perched atop the transformer. Using our crack zoological skills, it appears to be a vervet monkey, which is native to Kenya.

The monkey climbed onto the roof of the Gitaru power station and then dropped onto a transformer, tripping it. This caused the other transformers to overload and trip, which in turn caused the whole power station to go offline. The loss of 180MW from the hydro plant was enough to cause a national blackout, according to KenGen.

It isn't clear if the nationwide blackout was caused by a further cascade of transformer trips, or if it was more of a brownout as the grid tried to deal with a rapid reduction in power generation.

Power was restored to the nation four hours later—and, yes, the monkey survived and has now been taken in by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

KenGen says that its power installations are secured by electric fencing "which keeps away marauding animals," but presumably the little blighter found a way through it. The company apologised for the "isolated incident" and said that it's "looking at ways of further enhancing security at all our power plants."