

The People’s Liberation Army has released photos of their newest creation, apparently dubbed their ‘secret weapon’ by those involved: a small elite team of macaque monkeys who are tasked with killing birds that get too close to air force bases and risk damaging planes.

The world’s biggest military apparently met its match when unwanted birds began nesting near a northern air force base and occasionally sabotaging the Chinese military by, well, getting sucked into jet engines. The human’s best attempts at scaring, shoo-ing, and blasting the birds away proved ineffective and, realizing they’d been bested, it was time to call for reinforcements, as the Washington Post explains:

The macaques are trained to respond to precise whistle commands from their handlers, according to the Chinese military, leaping into action, clambering up trees to destroy nests and scare away birds, according to an account on China’s Air Force News Web site on Sunday. The particular air force base employing the monkeys was left unidentified, described simply as being in the Beijing military zone. Base commanders in the account said the monkeys have destroyed more than 180 nests, at a pace of six to eight nests per monkey per day

Perhaps the “People’s” in “People’s Liberation Army” should just be expanded to Primates generally. They wouldn’t even have to change the acronym.



Follow @shanghaiist



