Monkey Mayhem Returns to Longleat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sst5olU-0jw
Look out NASCAR!
The Rhesus macaques at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire have a car of their own to play with -they're 'grease monkeys' AND quick learners!
And their sponsors love them -or rather, will.
http://www.longleat.co.uk/
While they have learned how to keep making left-hand turns for 500 miles and how to pull into the correct spot in the pit-stop, there are certain things they still haven't quite caught on to, but give it some time.
For one, they haven't quite figured out how to do the celebratory donut in the infield after the race, an obligatory move in this day and age.
And most importantly for any professional automobile driver, they STILL haven't figured out how to start every post-race interview by thanking their sponsors and mentioning each one in declining order of financial investment.
Next year at Bristol and Martinsville!
I should also add that like me, other than at the Indy 500 or the Daytona 500, races with real tradition, the monkeys in Wiltshire see little value in having military flyovers at automobile races.
If it seems silly to them, imagine how it seems to those of us who can can add the taxpayer dollars involved...
I should mention here that one monkey wanted to put a Miami Dolphins pennant clip on his back window while still another wanted to put a bumper sticker on the back of the Mercedes that read "My child is a Honor Student at Jim Notter High School", but I talked them out of it.
While you're in the area, you may even want to visit a place that's even more famous, Stonehenge, which is why a friend is fond of saying, "Come for the Monkeys, Stay for the Druids."
Official tourism website for Salisbury & Stonehenge:
http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/salisbury/home
STONEHENGE -Wiltshire, England
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yz0xNkMmAI
National Geographic video: Secrets of Stonehenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6oxmxPKoSE
See also:
ITN Video: Monkeys ravage car at Longleat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
BBC News
Longleat's monkeys given their own car
