A monkey which escaped from a Scottish zoo might have been running from a fight during breeding season, a zookeeper said.
The animal, which is on the loose after escaping from Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie, Inverness, could have fled due to high tensions with other primates.
Nicknamed Kingussie Kong, the monkey has been spotted nicking nuts from neighbour’s bird feeders before giving zookeepers the runabout around the neighbourhood.
“It’s a very dynamic group of animals with quite a strong hierarchy. This time of year is breeding season so tensions run a little bit high and some times fights break out over breeding rights,” Mr Gilchrist told the BBC.
“When that happens the animals’ adrenaline can some times over-ride everything and rather than get into a fight it seems this one has just gone for it and got past the enclosure perimeter fence.
Staff at the park, run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), urged the public not to approach the primate and said zookeepers were searching for the animal.
