Smart Gang of Japanese Monkeys Have Learnt to Conquer the Electric Fence around the Apple Orchard

A troop of Japanese monkeys (aka snow monkey; Macaca fuscata fuscata, family Cercopithecidae) sneaking one after another into the apple orchard at the foot of a mountain. Although the entire orchard had been enclosed by electric fences to protect the growing crops, the monkeys had learnt to outsmart the deterrent barrier. First, the monkeys climbed up the supportive wires of a utility pole. And then they leapt over the electric fence to safely land on a side branch of a nearest apple tree (Malus domestica, family Rosaceae) inside the orchard. A mother monkey carrying her infant under her belly was so heavy that she chose to climb at first an orange pole of a roadside mirror, from where she moved on to the adjacent supportive wire. Mission accomplished. Well, life will find a way. I have no idea what the hungry monkeys would feed on inside the orchard, because the apple fruits on the branches were still green and unripe. Their artful burglary were replayed at 5x slow-motion (2:11-). I cannot help but admire their intelligence and acrobatic manoeuvres. Captured in the cloudy morning (around 9:00 AM) of late-June 2025 in Japan. Maybe I must show the orchard owner this footage to fix the weak point (Achilles’ heel) of the electric fence. I would like to advise him to cut down the apple tree which was nearest to the electric fence, in order to remove the entry point for the monkeys. Alternatively, the electric fences should be built even higher with overhanging tops. But the full-scale countermeasure would be very costly. For a full story (text in Japanese); https://sigma-nature-vlog.blogspot.com/2026/02/blog-post_28.html