Lesson plan

Monkey drive

A monkey drive is an operation where large numbers of wild monkeys are rounded up and killed in order to protect crops such as rice, banana and citrus trees. Monkey drives have been reported in Sierra Leone, where they were supported by the government. In 1965, Gerald Durrell organised a monkey drive in Sierra Leone during a collecting mission for Jersey Zoo (formerly the Durrell Wildlife Park). The monkey drive was out of season, and not to exterminate monkeys, but in order to capture colobus monkeys. In his book on the expedition, published in 1972, he wrote that 2000 to 3000 monkeys are killed in monkey drives in Sierra Leone each year, including the "two species" of colobus monkeys, which do no damage to cocoa plantations, and were theoretically protected by law. The species mentioned by Durrell are now considered genera: black-and-white colobus and red-and-black colobus.

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Article summary

A monkey drive is an operation where large numbers of wild monkeys are rounded up and killed in order to protect crops such as rice, banana and citrus trees. Monkey drives have been reported in Sierra Leone, where they were supported by the government. In 1965, Gerald Durrell organised a monkey drive in Sierra Leone during a collecting mission for Jersey Zoo (formerly the Durrell Wildlife Park). The monkey drive was out of season, and not to exterminate monkeys, but in order to capture colobus monkeys. In his book on the expedition, published in 1972, he wrote that 2000 to 3000 monkeys are killed in monkey drives in Sierra Leone each year, including the "two species" of colobus monkeys, which do no damage to cocoa plantations, and were theoretically protected by law. The species mentioned by Durrell are now considered genera: black-and-white colobus and red-and-black colobus.

Key claims

  1. publication date: 1972 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "1972". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1215389219

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.