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Jealous Alpha Male Monkey Attempts Acrobatic Attack On Man (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post  |  By Posted: 02/17/12 03:24 PM ET  |  Updated: 02/17/12 03:25 PM ET

Alpha Male Monkey

According to YouTube user NRucker5, a recent trip to a cafe inside the Memphis Zoo turned into a surprise encounter with one very jealous, very acrobatically talented monkey.

"The manager of the cafe told me that the alpha male monkey noticed me the second I walked in the door and started going crazy, because, as the alpha male, he feels threatened by tall males," NRucker5 wrote in the video's description. "So she told me to go stand by the window and turn my back on him and that he would 'attack' me."

Or, at least attempt to.

Watch as the monkey plans his attack with precision and gathers momentum swinging on the rope. While he does stick the landing, the surprise pounce probably didn't go as planned, as the little guy smacks into the glass window.

This isn't the first time impromptu filming has captured a moment of monkey magic. Last month, a baby snow monkey mistook a visitor's shoelace for a snack, and adorably sucked on it before eventually losing interest.

And who could forget the time a crested black macaque in an Indonesian national park stole a photographer's camera and produced some of the most memorable self portraits we've ever seen? By the time the photographer retrieved the camera, the monkey had taken hundreds of photos.

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According to YouTube user NRucker5, a recent trip to a cafe inside the Memphis Zoo turned into a surprise encounter with one very jealous, very acrobatically talented monkey. "The manager of the ca...
According to YouTube user NRucker5, a recent trip to a cafe inside the Memphis Zoo turned into a surprise encounter with one very jealous, very acrobatically talented monkey. "The manager of the ca...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ChicagoBlackRainbowWomen
In Full Armour
12:49 AM on 03/07/2012
You gotta watch the Cat and Bird video. Not quite the Lamb laying with the Lion, but close enough. I loved it!
01:20 AM on 02/21/2012
Monkey fighting style technique #34 flinging poop while flying....YEEEAAAAHHHHHHH

(smacks onto the window with cheap Chinese sound effects)

Monkey: "huhhh we meet again my invincible enemy"

Window: "??????"

Monkey: "WHAAAAT HOW DARE YOU STAND IN MY WAY".

Window: "?????????"

Monkey: "fighting style technique #1...windbreaker"

Window: "..............."

Monkey:" AHHHHHHHHHHHH...my middle finger is broken...you win this round, but the fight is not....over.

Monkey walks back to his spot defeated.

Window: "hahaha! Stupid furball is defeated by my stillness....waaiiittt...people can hear me".
05:49 PM on 02/19/2012
it's '' funny '' cause nobody got hurt. < sounds like a kid was scared > ... gibbons are so beautiful , these magnificent creatures are so OBVIOUSLY the inspiration for human gymnists and acrobats long ago. even today playground '' monkeybars '' with the arm reaching from one bar across to the next one ahead of it was clearly designed to mimic a wild gibbon as it leaps through the trees in what many scientist call their '' flight ''. remarkable...
04:42 PM on 02/19/2012
IT'S a GIBBON! The difference between a monkey an ape is tail vs. no tail. Gibbons are small apes.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jamalc
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
01:42 PM on 02/20/2012
lol I never knew that. thanks!
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
11:19 AM on 02/19/2012
Many comments and days later the gibbon is still supposedly a monkey. This falsity appears not only in the headline but repeatedly in the body of the article.

Laura Hibbard and the Huffington Post senior editorial staff you have lost credibility on factual accuracy.

Whilst many comments indicate that a lot of people don't care about distinguishing between apes and monkeys this is not to say that the indifference of some readers gives you a free pass to leave factually incorrect content unaltered.
10:48 AM on 02/19/2012
That seems kind of mean to set that monkey up like that to smash himself into the glass and the kid got scared too. Ha Ha (not).
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
repugnicansfearme
Here endeth the lesson.
09:58 AM on 02/19/2012
I think we should replace all the gobp in Congress with trained monkeys- they would be smarter, and we would get more done.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
karen lyons kalmenson
i poem/paint, sometimes, i ain't
07:14 AM on 02/19/2012
ah what we captive
monkeys have to do
to amuse inferior humans
who visit us at the zoo
evecaren
In every cloud there is a silver lining
02:56 PM on 02/20/2012
I really enjoy your poems, karen ;) They're very imaginative.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
karen lyons kalmenson
i poem/paint, sometimes, i ain't
04:32 PM on 02/20/2012
thank you oh so very, evecaren♥☻
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02:29 AM on 02/19/2012
Too funny
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stjoshy
"C is for COOKIEEEEE. thats good enough for me"
10:29 PM on 02/18/2012
i could do that
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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BeachBubbaTex
google picnic bear
03:22 PM on 02/18/2012
There was a silverback who routinely did this (without the gynmastics) at the Lincoln Park Zoo. He'd sit there on one of these round concrete pillars with a sideways look at the crowd that bordered on contempt. After 10-15 minutes he would launch his 800 pounds into the plaxiglass and watch them scatter. I always wondered if it was a behavior brought about by his life in captivity or that he just liked the effect (which was quite noisy: screams, people falling back, etc.)
12:11 PM on 03/20/2012
It's actually both - when captive primates become bored, they often do things like this (including flinging their own feces) to illicit a reaction from visitors because it's (a) the only thing they can control and (b) something to do when there's nothing else.
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FZliveson
Beating the Conundrum
03:03 PM on 02/18/2012
The question that comes to my mind is;
"Was the attack a natural competitive act or was it somehow related to the animal being confined, rather than being in its natural habitat?"  It appears by the way the "feet" on the monkey hit at the base of the man's neck, that the animal would have paralyzed or killed the man if the full weight of his maneuver were to have not been prevented by the glass. Lucky the glass was as thick as it was or the man might have been fatally cut.
10:50 AM on 02/19/2012
Yeah, that would have been kind of funny if the glass broke...SURPRISE!!! Hee Hee.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Newthron
Never give up, never surrender.
02:59 PM on 02/18/2012
This is what true Kung fu is. Regarding the monkey style, the attack is totally unexpected and brutal.

This is as scary as it could have been lethal.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Trittydi
Special on pap smears at Walgreen's this week ....
02:37 PM on 02/18/2012
It's not true that the monkey is surprised by the glass. He completely knows that it's there and that he's going to come up against it. It's all in the way he lands.
*
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Newthron
Never give up, never surrender.
02:59 PM on 02/18/2012
Correct and agree.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
opinionator63
She blinded me with science!
04:13 PM on 02/18/2012
I agree. He didn't hurt himself on the glass. I think the monkey gets a big kick out of doing this!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Trittydi
Special on pap smears at Walgreen's this week ....
03:19 PM on 02/19/2012
I agree - he's enjoying himself. Probably loves all the attention it brings him.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
levelshot
I hate instant meals
02:22 PM on 02/18/2012
it's quite obviously he knew standing their would provoke the gibbon, which is wrong. If he wants to amuse all us who don't find this funny at all, how about getting in the cage with this beautiful creature for some real entertainment.
02:32 PM on 02/18/2012
Wow, dude. You never miss an opportunity to get on your soap box, do you?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
levelshot
I hate instant meals
02:36 PM on 02/18/2012
your name is quite fitting.
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christopherflynn
The wreligious wright is always rong...
02:42 PM on 02/18/2012
I have to agree with your comment...Too many people assume their 'supremacy' over the 'so-called' lower life forms...I find that to be a very irresponsible and false attitude. Thanks for standing up for gibbon. fanned and faved
chris