Monday, June 23, 2008

The Banana Thief of Tijuca Forest

The scene of the crime: the Tijuca forests of Rio de Janiero, the largest urban forest in the world. The perpetrator: a jackfruit eating tufted capuchin monkey lured by an unwitting, banana-fed American tourist. It was the perfect crime.

Ah yes, lunchtime brings another tourist being fed bananas by irresponsible monkeys -- this delicious morsel will soon be mine -- what an easy steal.

What a cunning criminal I am -- that was much too easy. Call it a crime if you must, but the signs say "Do Not Feed the Animals". Is it not an act of compliance -- keeping these biopeds from being fed -- just like the signs say. I'm just doing my civilian duty as a citizen of these forests.

Everyone knows that feeding tourists fresh bananas disturbs their natural environment. What kind of monkey would feed these two-legged animals anyway? Don't they know that interfering in the American tourist's diet with healthy food causes undue stress on their biological systems.

With the amount of fast food available near the forests -- it is simply not necessary to feed the tourists. They could stand to miss a meal anyway.

Oh, this banana is so good! And such a nice change from eating jackfruit all day. I'm so glad that monkey was feeding the tourist. What a delightful treat!

What is that? An organ I hear? A badly played organ in need of an organ grinder????


Corra! Corra! The organ grinding police are coming to get me!

Watch this, I will run very fast, narrowly escaping the long arm of the law and consequently a life of organ grinding and wearing a fez. I do not look good in hats!

They are outrunning me. I must not leave any evidence behind.

Escape is nearly mine! It is not my destiny to spend the rest of my life in street fairs and carnivals. I have no musical talent. Anyway, who will protect these tourists from all this healthy food?

13 comments:

jstringfellow said...

You're funny! I'm glad I found you again.

kjpweb said...

Yep - funny it is. Good sequence!
Cheers, Klaus

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

LOL How cute is that?!?! Good work, T.R! :)

Unknown said...

As a person who was honored to raise a baby Capuchin monkey for 6 months I can agree, they are well versed in banana theft, even the one raised by us. stuart

Anonymous said...

Aww thats adorable - and hilarious! Thanks for sharing it!!! =)

Doug Taron said...

The monkey shots are very well done and make for an interesting story. But...I'm really interested in the notion of the world's largest urban forest. I'd love to see photos of that. Is it an example of the highly endangered Atlantic Coastal Rainforest?

Texas Travelers said...

That was a great and immaginative post.

Well done and thanks for the visit,
Troy

Anonymous said...

it's funny and cute and beautiful. wonderful post. well done

Kathie Brown said...

Very Funny and Cute. I hope he escaped for good. Now I'll go eat my banana for breakfast. Glad I'm too far way for that theif to get me!

Lana Gramlich said...

*LOL!* How wonderful. :)
Love the shots of Iguazu falls, too! Stunning. I'd love to see them, someday.

Lana Gramlich said...

*LOL!* How wonderful. :)
Love the shots of Iguazu falls, too! Stunning. I'd love to see them, someday.

Anonymous said...

Those monkeys are like little brats.
They even manage their way into the houses of those who live near that glorious forest!

I enjoyed your post quite a lot.

Mary said...

Hilarious. Tim, your narrative is wonderful! Monkeys are such clever little beasts. It would make my day to get a sequence of photos like that...

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