Hairless Monkey Mistaken For Alien

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When Mao Xiping in China first espied the strange, hairless creature eating cucumbers in her garden in Gezhai village, she at first thought it was a rabbit.

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“At first I thought it was a rabbit, then I was shocked to see it had an alien face,” said Mao.

After a diet of cucumbers, Mao tried peaches and now the starving animal won’t eat anything else.

But the poor critter was neither a rabbit nor one of ET’s lost relatives seeking a way to “phone home.” Handed over to scientists, it was at first thought to be a malnourished hairless monkey.

But the world of nature is full of surprises and the animal was soon determined to be neither an alien nor a monkey, but rather an emaciated Loris.

This suborder of primates is similar to but different from the monkey family. The Loris is nocturnal, shy and quiet, and commonly found in India and China.

The hairless creature was like nothing Mao or any of her neighbors had ever seen before and to them, it really was an alien life form. Locals were at first frightened by the creature’s appearance as its lack of hair and visible skeletal frame gave it a weird unearthly appearance.

What does this say about human reactions to things that look different?

How far have we really come as an evolved species?

Keep feeding the poor, hungry Loris, but this question and its answer too is food for thought, no?

Check out this sweet video of a tame, adorable* Loris being tickled by its loving owners.