Monty the meerkat facts for kids
Monty the meerkat is a famous meerkat who was in the news in September 2007. People thought he could take pictures with a digital camera. But it turned out to be a hoax, which means it was a trick. Workers at Longleat Safari Park made up the story.
The Story of Monty
The Times newspaper reported that Ian Turner, a deputy warden at Longleat Safari Park, was taking photos of meerkats. He needed the pictures for a new park brochure.
Turner left his camera on a tripod to get a different one. When he came back, he found three new pictures on the camera's memory card. He hadn't taken them! No one else was around except the playful meerkats.
The warden was very surprised. He thought a meerkat must have taken the photos. After looking at them, Turner noticed that Monty, the leader of the meerkat group (called a mob), wasn't in any of the pictures. So, he guessed Monty was the one who took them.
To say I was surprised is an understatement. To actually get up to the camera and take a family portrait is quite incredible. They are some of the more inquisitive creatures here at Longleat and will generally get their nose and paws into most things. I don’t think we’ll be handing over the reins to them just yet but you never know, maybe we have a film crew in the making.
News Reports
The Times wrote that Monty "soon discovered how to fire the shutter." The newspaper even said Monty's pictures were better than the first photos taken by humans! Monty cut off one meerkat's head in a photo, but the other pictures were good family portraits, even if a little blurry.
The Guardian newspaper said the meerkats were "turning paparazzi" (like photographers who follow famous people). It talked about anthropomorphism, which is when you give human qualities to animals. The article joked that photographers are sometimes called "monkeys," but no one had ever said a meerkat could do their job before!
The Daily Mirror newspaper claimed meerkats loved photography. It also said they like to wrestle, race, and even "sing" in a way similar to yodelling.
Many newspapers quoted Ian Turner saying meerkats "get their nose and paws into most things." But none of them said if the meerkats used their noses, paws, or both to take the pictures.
The Hoax Revealed
Most British newspapers believed the story. However, a technician from Amateur Photographer magazine found something strange. Reports said the meerkat photos were on a "digital memory card." But the camera used was a Canon EOS 650, which was a film camera from 1987. It didn't use digital memory cards!
Amateur Photographer asked the park for more information. Soon, the truth came out.
Keith Harris, the head warden at the park, explained it was a "slight hoax." He told the magazine that the meerkats "didn't take any pictures at all." He said it started as a joke and wasn't meant to be picked up by newspapers. The idea for the trick came when park workers saw the meerkats playing with camera equipment.
Roy Greenslade from The Guardian found the phrase "slight hoax" funny. He also said the news was a relief for newspaper photographers. They are sometimes called "monkeys" by reporters. If the story had been true, it might have made things worse for them!
MSN later listed the Monty the meerkat story as one of the "Hoaxes of the decade."
