Backstory: Monkey see, monkey dial

"...Life in this Big Smoke isn't 2 bad. There R trees to swing in and lots a insects 2 eat. I have 11 friends 2 play with, so I'm never lonely. Gotta dash, feeding time! Luv and..."

What would a squirrel monkey want with a cellphone? It sounds like the setup to a Jay Leno line. But, in fact, serious scientists at the London Zoo have been wrestling with this zoological mystery for months.

Twelve of the tiny, agile monkeys that come from Latin America moved into the zoo a year ago, and immediately began to cast their beady eyes - and occasionally get their miniature mitts - on visitors' cellphones.

Maybe it's a case of the animal kingdom trying to tell humans that the technology revolution has gone too far. Or a message to teens that parents seem incapable of delivering: Get off the phone! More likely, say officials who get paid to think about these things, the reason is much less Machiavellian.

"We think they were attracted by the flashing lights and ring tones," says Jo Cook, a mammal expert at the zoo.

The mischievous monkeys live in a barrier-free enclosure that visitors can walk through. Amid imposing trees connected by ropes, they come face to face - and, it seems, hand to cell - with the humans who come to gawk at them. Forget monkey see, monkey do. This is a case of monkey see, monkey dial.

Though their exact reason for doing it may be unknown, Aoife Doyle has a theory. "It's obvious - they want to phone home, like ET," says the 12-year-old, who is visiting the zoo with her family. "They miss their friends back in Bolivia and might be worried that some have been poached to become pets." Aoife has clearly been paying attention to the information signs.

"No, they wanna send a text message," interjects her 10-year-old brother, Steven. "Look at their little hands, perfect for texting."

Overhead, one of the monkeys hangs from a branch by its tail and use its hands to grab a squirming grub. It is hanging hands-free. "Yeah, they can swing and SMS [short message service] at the same time," notes Steven.

"...We're settling in well. It's not 2 different from home - warm and leafy and bristling with juicy creepy crawlies. But there R strange uprite creatures who stare at us during the day and then disappear again at nite. Weird..."

Squirrel monkeys are cute and comical. They range in length from 10 to 14 inches, and their tails can grow to 16 inches. Fringed with orange-yellow fur, the creatures are spectacularly speedy, scuttling up tree trunks and leaping from one branch to another like, well, squirrels. Hence the name. They traverse treetops using all four limbs and can leap up to 23 feet.

They are the smallest and among the most curious of the primates. Only 3,500 of them remain in the wild, their numbers threatened by poachers seeking to sell them for use in biomedical research or as pets or bait.

The year-old enclosure at the London Zoo, spanning 4,900 square feet, is done up to look, feel, and smell like the rain forests of Bolivia, where these cheeky monkeys come from. It is surrounded by fencing, but it is open to the skies. The trees and plants were chosen for their scent and because they bear the sorts of fruit that squirrel monkeys like to snack on in between the serious business of making a meal of insects and grubs.

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