How to catch a monkey

[snopes]

Comment: There is a story that says in Africa (and India), the natives use a
technique to catch monkeys. They hollow out one end of a coconut and they
put peanuts in there (I've also heard bananas..but same concept). The
monkey puts his hand in the coconut and when he makes a fist to grab the
peanuts, he's trapped. The natives will pull a string attached to the
other end of the coconut and capture the monkey.

Motivational speakers use this story all the time to inspire people to
"let go" of their old perceptions - since in truth, the monkey was never
trapped. All he had to do was let go of the peanuts.

[Fowlplay]

I remember seeing this done in a animal/documentary style show, but they didn't use coconuts.

There was kind of a earthen berm/hill thing they dug a narrow hole in. They then placed food inside the holes. The monkeys (and I can't even begin to remember what type - this was a loooong time ago) could just get their hands inside, but when they clenched their fists to grab the food they became 'trapped'. It didn't occur to them right away to just let go of the food to get their hands back. I think they probably would have eventually figured it out, but as soon as they were stuck someone would jump out from behind a rock to capture the monkey.

So I've seen something similar done, but I couldn't begin to verify where or when I saw that thing. Almost as bad as FOAF, but at least I remember seeing it myself.

[glisp42]

Okay, I must be watching to much Peter Sellers because I read that as "How to catch a minky"

[Barns & No Bull]

Originally Posted by Fowlplay

I remember seeing this done in a animal/documentary style show, but they didn't use coconuts.

There was kind of a earthen berm/hill thing they dug a narrow hole in. They then placed food inside the holes. The monkeys (and I can't even begin to remember what type - this was a loooong time ago) could just get their hands inside, but when they clenched their fists to grab the food they became 'trapped'. It didn't occur to them right away to just let go of the food to get their hands back. I think they probably would have eventually figured it out, but as soon as they were stuck someone would jump out from behind a rock to capture the monkey.

So I've seen something similar done, but I couldn't begin to verify where or when I saw that thing. Almost as bad as FOAF, but at least I remember seeing it myself.

I'm trying to picture this monkey trap hill. It's not making sense.

If what you say is true, then no monkey has ever removed food from this hill. No monkey has ever even seen another monkey get food from the hill. I'm also curious how the monkey catcher gets the monkey. If the monkey won't let go of the food, does the guy have to cut its arm off?

Motivational speakers use this story all the time to inspire people to
"let go" of their old perceptions - since in truth, the monkey was never
trapped. All he had to do was let go of the peanuts.

... and by letting go of the trappings of the motivational speakers - you truly set yourself free.

[Fowlplay]

If what you say is true, then no monkey has ever removed food from this hill. No monkey has ever even seen another monkey get food from the hill. I'm also curious how the monkey catcher gets the monkey. If the monkey won't let go of the food, does the guy have to cut its arm off?

Yeah, I can't seem to word it exactly right to give a mind's eye visual. Essentially it was a small hole in the side of a 'wall'. I can't remember how they lured them in. I think it may have been as simple as leaving a trail of crumbs etc. to the hole. They would stick their hands in and get pretty upset. They didn't want to give up the food, but they still wanted to get away. I can't remember how they made them let go, but I think most of them did themselves after a few moments.

Also I use 'monkey' very loosely here. They were some kind of primate, but like I said this was a long time ago I don't remember the particulars very well. I just remember being slightly amused at the simplicity of the trap.

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

Originally Posted by Barns & No Bull

I'm trying to picture this monkey trap hill. It's not making sense.

If what you say is true, then no monkey has ever removed food from this hill. No monkey has ever even seen another monkey get food from the hill. I'm also curious how the monkey catcher gets the monkey. If the monkey won't let go of the food, does the guy have to cut its arm off?

I remember seeing a film or films involving catching monkeys using this method. I was just a kid in elementary school, and it was probably one of those Disney nature documentaries like the one with the lemmings, so take it for what it's worth.

Monkey catching methods I remember:

1. Termites in a termite mound. This is probably the "hill" that Fowlplay is remembering. Maybe the people watched the monkeys around the mounds, waiting for one to get its hand stuck this way. Once the monkey is caught, it gets scared and lets go of the food, so the person can bag it.

2. Goodies in a jar. Same as above. Greedy monkey won't let go of the food, and can't get his fist out. Hunter scoops up monkey and jar and takes both home.

3. Salt chunks. I can't remember exactly how this one worked. The hunter put big pieces of rock salt out where there wasn't much water around, and put a source of water where the monkey could find it, and the man could easily trap it. Monkeys eat salt like candy, then get hideously thirsty, and voila, monkey in the hole. Or something.

[Barns & No Bull]

How to catch an elephant...

Equipment needed:

Binoculars
Coke bottle
Tweezers

Directions: Walk around Africa until you find an elephant. Get as close as you can without endangering yourself. Look at the elephant through the wrong end of the binoculars. Pick up the elephant with the tweezers and drop him in the bottle.

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

Barns, I'm getting the impression you were never a Marlon Perkins fan as a kid.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by Barns & No Bull

How to catch an elephant...

Equipment needed:

Binoculars
Coke bottle
Tweezers

Directions: Walk around Africa until you find an elephant. Get as close as you can without endangering yourself. Look at the elephant through the wrong end of the binoculars. Pick up the elephant with the tweezers and drop him in the bottle.

This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know
--Groucho Marx from Animal Crackers

[Barns & No Bull]

Originally Posted by Spam & Cookies-mmm

Monkey catching methods I remember:

1. Termites in a termite mound. This is probably the "hill" that Fowlplay is remembering. Maybe the people watched the monkeys around the mounds, waiting for one to get its hand stuck this way. Once the monkey is caught, it gets scared and lets go of the food, so the person can bag it.

The holes in termite mounds are too small for monkey hands. They would have to be enlarged for this to work. If you saw this one on a Disney program, they no doubt hollowed out the mound to position a person inside to grab the monkey's hand.

2. Goodies in a jar. Same as above. Greedy monkey won't let go of the food, and can't get his fist out. Hunter scoops up monkey and jar and takes both home.

That jar better be a big ceramic moonshine jug. Otherwise the monkey will just flee from the hunter with the jar on his hand.

3. Salt chunks. I can't remember exactly how this one worked. The hunter put big pieces of rock salt out where there wasn't much water around, and put a source of water where the monkey could find it, and the man could easily trap it. Monkeys eat salt like candy, then get hideously thirsty, and voila, monkey in the hole. Or something.

Or something. Did you eat Jimson seeds as a child?

Originally Posted by Chest Horsenut

I suppose fishers are just too smart not to let go of the bait, so they had to "add a little something extra" to the trap.

A fisher can't hold "bait" in its paw. They don't have anything like a hand, so they can't grasp something. If a fisher wanted to remove bait from a tree hole, it would have to scoop it out. If it isn't wrapping its toes around the bait - it doesn't ever get the paw trapped in the hole. So that means that the spikes weren't used because the hole alone didn't work. Of course this is all creative fiction in Gorky Park.

Can you imagine the tedious labor involved in embedding all of those tiny nails facing inwards within a hole? All that is done on a tree standing out there in the wilderness? Then you finally snag one and some stupid hawk decides to eat it after seeing it flopping on the side of a pine trunk. Screw that.

[Horse Chestnut]

I flipped through the book, just to see if I was remembering the description correctly. Turned out I wasn't. It wasn't the fisher's paw that got caught by the nail...IT WAS THE HEAD!

(Cue Psycho violin music.)

[scrapheapchallenge]

Originally Posted by Barns & No Bull

I'm trying to picture this monkey trap hill. It's not making sense.

If what you say is true, then no monkey has ever removed food from this hill. No monkey has ever even seen another monkey get food from the hill. I'm also curious how the monkey catcher gets the monkey. If the monkey won't let go of the food, does the guy have to cut its arm off?

... and by letting go of the trappings of the motivational speakers - you truly set yourself free.

This is from a documentary directed by South African director Jamie Uys, called "beautiful People" It has been one of my favourites since childhood, IIRC it was made in the late 70s or early 80's.

The scene you refer to goes like this:

Kalahari bushman has some salt (a very valuable resource in the desert environment, and monkeys love it, in fact when you are in a desert environment all the time salt does actually begin to taste good to you - a tactic by your body to ensure you get enough salts and electrolytes into your body for correct muscle function, as lots of salts are lost in sweat. This was evidenced as when I was a small child growing up in a desert country, my mother once found me raiding the pantry for the bag of salt crystals she used to fill the grinder - I remember it tasting so good and having an urge to eat it purely because my body needed it - I don't usually like salt unless I've worked hard in the summer heat.)

The kalahari bushman makes sure monkeys can see what he is doing, and carefully drills out a hole in an old termite mound, monkeys being inquisitive, watch him carefully from a distance, as he puts some salt into the hole he has made, then backs off to wait. Consumed by curiosity, the monkey comes forward after a while and attempts to get the delicious lump of salt from inside the termite mound, as soon as he tries to take it out, the bushman rushes forward and gets a rope around his neck then ties him to a tree. He then lets him eat some salt - plenty of it.

Of course once you've had some salt you get very thirsty - hence the reason the bushman does this - monkeys often know of hidden sources of water which they are very secretive about - once the monkey gets really thirsty and uncomfortable the bushman lets him go and follows him as he rushes to his secret spring of water, thus finding the water for himself.

This is all filmed on the documentary HOWEVER I do not know how much of it was staged. TBH I would have thought the bushman would be just as keen to catch the monkey purely to eat it's meat anyway, or as well.

Kirsty.

[blewettnorth]

I also saw a b&w video on TV of catching monkeys as a kid. I think it was an old travelog/safari movie made 50+ years ago. In it they had jars tied to a stake with a rock in the jar. At least that is how I remember it.

Just a couple of years ago I mentioned this at a conference in Toronto. There was a man who grew up in Angola who said he had seen the method used.

[MegansMom]

I thought this concept sounded familiar...

Aesop's Fables

My recollection was monkeys reaching into a dirt mound, making a fist and getting caught. The people then tied them with a rope to a stake with nothing but a salt lick which they kept eating despite there being no water.

Finally, after a period of time, they would take the thirsty monkey on a leash to lead them to a source of water (I think the water had to be found underground).

I remember this so vividly thinking of what people from other civilizations had to go through to get water that I was readily getting from a faucet.

Please, someone, find a video of this so my friends won't think I'm crazy!

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

Originally Posted by MWMILLER317

Please, someone, find a video of this so my friends won't think I'm crazy!

I looked all over the web. I can't find anything. Maybe someone else has a source.

Want to share some of my jimson seeds, though? 'cause Barns says we hallucinated this stuff.

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: There is a story that says in Africa (and India), the natives use a
technique to catch monkeys. They hollow out one end of a coconut and they
put peanuts in there (I've also heard bananas..but same concept). The
monkey puts his hand in the coconut and when he makes a fist to grab the
peanuts, he's trapped. The natives will pull a string attached to the
other end of the coconut and capture the monkey.

Motivational speakers use this story all the time to inspire people to
"let go" of their old perceptions - since in truth, the monkey was never
trapped. All he had to do was let go of the peanuts.

There's a scene in one of the old Tarzan movies (Tarzan and the Trappers, 1958, I think) where they demonstrate this technique. The hunters put a nut in clay pots tied to a tree, the monkeys grab the nut and won't let go, the hunters stick the monkeys in a cage and break the clay pots to release the monkeys (but inside the cage). If it's staged it's done remarkably well: You see a bunch of monkeys with their hands stuck in pots and screaming at the top of their lungs because they can't get away.

[Lancastrian]

According to Jewish folktales, this also works well with demons and pickle jars.

[charlie23]

There's a scene in one of the old Tarzan movies (Tarzan and the Trappers, 1958, I think) where they demonstrate this technique. The hunters put a nut in clay pots tied to a tree, the monkeys grab the nut and won't let go, the hunters stick the monkeys in a cage and break the clay pots to release the monkeys (but inside the cage). If it's staged it's done remarkably well: You see a bunch of monkeys with their hands stuck in pots and screaming at the top of their lungs because they can't get away.

"Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958?) is actually in public domain now, and can be downloaded free from the Moving Picture Archives at The Internet Movie Archives or a variety of other sites. Gotta say it's almost worth it, if only to see Tarzan riding a baby giraffe. (Note; this film isn't for the PETA crowd).
There's also a great scene of Jane homeschooling 'Boy' in the wilds of Africa:
Boy: "...why do I have to waste my time on Treasure Island?"
(Indeed, when that hungry boa constrictor puppet could well have you for a snack in the morning. It has live elephants, lions and chimps...no live boa. Marlin Perkins must have rented it that day. But I digress.)

SPOILER:

Anyway, the evil trapper catches Cheetah by swatting him with a regular $10.00 aluminum framed fishing net. Not a recommended method for chimps, who may well just fold the net up and beat you with it (I do have some experience with them), but probably works better on small monkeys than waiting for them to stick their hands in a hole.

No monkey traps anywhere in the movie. You now have the curse of 10,000 evil white trappers on your soul for making me watch this.

charlie "my python boots are too tight" 23

I'm pretty sure you're talking about the 1974 documentary "Animals are Beautiful people", which was directed by Jamie Uys (the guy who did "The Gods Must Be Crazy"). It takes place in the Namib and Kalahari deserts. The scene I think this thread is talking about has a thirsty Kalahari tribesman/bushman fooling a baboon into revealing his closely hoarded secret water cache, by capturing then feeding him salt.

Another memorable scene shows the effect of fermented Marula fruit on a variety of African animals - such as Baboons, Elephants and warthogs... The animals consume a bunch of it, stagger around, eventually pass out, wake up later on with a hang-over and, just like many humans, they actually come back for more! Even though there are a few minutes with all sorts of beasts getting intoxicated on Marula, this is still a good film for children... I loved it when I was one!