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Frustrated zookeepers have booked a Marvin Gaye impersonator to help get their love-shy monkeys to 'get it on'.
Staff enlisted Motown singer David Largie to sing an array of the star's hits to Barbary macaques, to give them ideas of 'sexual healing' during the all-important mating season.
The racy musical stunt has been put on to show the importance of breeding at Trentham Monkey Forest near Stoke-on-Trent, which is home to 140 Barbary macaques – an at-risk species of monkey which is down to its last 8,000 worldwide.
They were re-categorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) from 'vulnerable' down to 'endangered' back in 2009.
Zoo worker Matt Lovatt told The Mirror that staff came up with the idea as a "creative way to encourage our females to show a little affection to males that might not have been so lucky in love".
"Females in season mate with several males so paternity amongst our furry residents is never known," he said.
Matt added that while the endangered status had been a sad milestone for the decline of the species, it had also brought much greater public attention to their plight in in the wild.
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The monkeys are native to Morocco and Algeria and face several threats to their population including the pet and photo prop trade, with an estimated 200 to 300 babies being taken from the wild each year to be sold as pets or props.
Other threats include the loss of habitat due to deforestation, illegal logging and over grazing from cattle and sheep.
Macaques are said to be vital for dispersing seeds in forest habitats.
Monkey Forest in Staffordshire spans across 60-acres and provides an entirely natural bar and cage-free home for its 140 monkeys, while also providing educational information about the challenges that they face in the wild.
- Monkeys
- Animals
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