Monkey is beaten at German zoo ‘because he is no longer able to mate’
Monkey is brutally beaten by the rest of his troop at a German zoo ‘because he is no longer able to mate’
- Eighteen-year-old Cornelius has been targeted at the Monkey Forest attraction
- He has become a target for his fellow Barbary macaques in Sondershausen
- Zookeepers said he could no longer produce offspring and had become ‘useless’
An endangered monkey has been brutally beaten by his own troop at a German zoo after he became unable to mate.
Eighteen-year-old Cornelius has been targeted at the Monkey Forest attraction in Sondershausen, eastern Germany.
Corenlius is the leader of the zoo’s troop of 23 Barbary macaques but has become a target for his male competitors, who frequently attack him.
Zoo chief Silvio Dietzel said Cornelius could no longer produce offspring and had become ‘useless for the group’.
Target: Endangered monkey Cornelius (pictured) has been brutally beaten by his own troop at a German zoo after he became unable to mate
The monkey has declined physically, suffering from thinning skin and a hump, and has hardly any teeth left.
‘Cornelius is only tolerated, no one has respect for him anymore,’ said Mr Dietzel, who added: ‘Because his fangs have broken off, he cannot defend himself.’
Even when the monkeys are being fed, Cornelius is frequently kicked aside by the other apes, he said.
Zookeepers said Cornelius had a history of using force against other members of the troop himself.
Six years ago he incited the entire clan against his rivals resulting in four apes being thrown over a three-meter-high electric fence.
The group lives together in the large forested terrain set aside for them at the German attraction.
Barbary macaques are found in the wild in Northern Africa and in Gibraltar, and can reach an age of up to 25 years for males and 30 for females.
They are listed as an endangered species.
Victim: Cornelius, one of the 23 members of his endangered species at the attraction in eastern Germany, has previously used force against his own troop himself, zookeepers said
Earlier this year a British-born bonobo gained international attention when he was violently attacked by German chimps who did not accept him into their ranks.
Bili, aged 10, faced terror from the aggressive German apes at a zoo in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The violence left the hapless animal with bleeding wounds and part of his ear bitten off.
The repeated attacks on Bili even prompted 300,000 people to sign a petition calling for the bonobo’s return to Britain.
However, weeks later zookeepers said he had found himself a ‘cougar’ girlfriend eight years his senior and appeared to be assimilating into the troop.
‘In the meantime, Bili looks much more relaxed overall. We could no longer observe any aggression against him lately,’ a zoo spokesman said in February.
Aggression: In a previous outbreak of monkey violence, British-born bonobo Bili is seen trying to protect himself on the ground at a zoo in Wuppertal, Germany
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