A group of
monkeys in India killed 250 pups in a bid to take “revenge” on the local dog
population this month. The monkeys have thrown pups off of the top of tall
buildings and trees.

The monkeys,
located in Majalgaon, Maharashtra, India started the violence after some of the dogs
allegedly killed an infant monkey.

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According to
News18, since then whenever monkeys see a dog coming near their area, they
catch them and throw them from a tall building or a tree to the ground.

In the
neighbouring village of Lavool the monkeys have fully eliminated all the dogs.
After all the dogs were killed in the village, residents contacted forest
department officials to catch the monkeys. But when officials attempted to
catch the monkeys, they were unable to capture a single primate. Now, villagers
in Lavool are being chased by the monkeys, some have even been attacked.

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‘Monkeys are
aggressive when they are attacked’

According to
Stephanie Poindexter, an assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo whose research
focuses on primate behavioural ecology, said studies have shown that
animals—primarily monkeys—can practice revenge.

“We’ve seen
that when an individual is attacked in some way, the likelihood of them
attacking someone related to their aggressor is higher,” Poindexter told
Gizmodo. “Typically there’s a preference for attacking a third-party
associated with the original aggressor, as opposed to the actual
aggressor…for the most part, these acts of ‘revenge’ take place shortly after
the attack.”

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Poindexter also
explained that groups of hyenas have been known to seek revenge on the aggressor’s
relatives instead of the actual aggressor.

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After the forest
department was unable to capture any of the monkeys, villagers began attempting
to rescue the dogs on their own. But some of them have found themselves subject
to the monkeys’ retaliation, and some have even injured themselves or fallen
from buildings, News18 reported.