- Monkeys in India have thrown approximately 250 off the top of buildings and trees, per reports.
- Villagers believe the monkeys took "revenge" after a baby monkey was killed by a pack of dogs, News 18 says.
- Studies show that primates can practice revenge, according to Gizmodo.
A troop of monkeys in an Indian town has thrown 250 dogs to their deaths in the past month, according to News18.
Locals in Lavool, a 5000-person town about 300 miles east of Mumbai, told News 18 that the monkeys began to take "revenge" last month after a pack of dogs killed an infant monkey.
Since then, residents told the media outlet that the monkeys have been snatching dogs as soon as they spot them and dragging them to the top of trees and tall buildings.
The monkeys then throw the dogs off the heights, per News 18, and let them plummet to their deaths. The media outlet said that nearly every dog in the town had been killed in the primate purge.
Newsweek reported that officials from a local forest department were called to help capture the vengeful monkeys but could not entrap a single one.
Villagers then tried to catch the monkeys' News 18 said, but several of them became injured in the process.
The monkeys are now targeting small children, creating "panic" in Lavool, News 18 reported.
According to Gizmodo, primates are capable of practicing revenge.
"In studies of primates in captivity, in social groups in zoos, we've seen that when an individual is attacked in some way, the likelihood of them attacking someone related to their aggressor is higher," said Stephanie Poindexter, an assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo, whose research focuses on primate behavioral ecology.
"Typically, there's a preference for attacking a third-party associated with the original aggressor, as opposed to the actual aggressor," Poindexter told Gizmodo.