BEIJING — China is leaning on the animal kingdom – including a squad of nest-wrecking monkeys – to ensure its military parade commemorating the end of World War II goes smoothly.
To minimize the chances of birds striking engines during the many airplane flyovers connected to the Beijing parade, state media reports say, the military has used falcons to chase away birds and a team of trained macaques to flush nests out of trees around the pilots’ training grounds.
“We bought two monkeys in April last year from Henan province. After one month’s training, the macaques mastered the skill of taking apart birds’ nests,” air force official Wang Mingzhi was quoted as saying by China News Service. Three more monkeys were later added to the team, which can dismantle up to 60 nests per day in return for rewards, Wang said.
Other air-clearing measures in the capital include bans on kites, balloons and sport pigeons. Beijing’s airports will be closed for three hours.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.