A research money from Emory University in Atlanta has escaped and has not yet been found. Officials say they have notified neighborhood associations nearby to look for the monkey after she went missing from the center's field station in Lawrenceville.
The specially bred 2-year-old female rhesus monkey turned up missing during an annual veterinary exam last week, said Lisa Newbern, a spokeswoman at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
"We want them to know that we are doing everything we can to find this animal," Newbern said.
"What we tell people is that these are wild animals, they are not pets," she added. "We want them to just be cautious if they see a monkey and to call us."
The monkey wasn't infected with any disease as part of a study, Newbern said. She said the animal was specially bred without the herpes B virus, which is common to the species.
And now reports are out that the loose monkey is on Twitter.
Just like the Bronx Zoo’s missing cobra did earlier in the year, the loose "monkey" has taken to Twitter with its imaginary escapades. The fake tweets started @EmoryMacaqueEsc on Thursday, but so far there haven’t been many specific clues as to where it might be hiding.
"Everybody thinks I'm in Atlanta but I've not made it very far out of L'ville. I'm going to get closer to the big A today," the fake monkey tweeted on Friday morning.
"I do not have herpes and I love getting out and about town. What more do you need to know?" the "monkey" writes in its description. In a tweet early Friday, the "monkey" warns, "I’m allegedly disease free, but don’t approach me if you see me." That’s the same advice given by officials at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center Field Station in Lawrenceville.
