Funny and Bizarre Environmental News from Around the Globe

To help you ease into the weekend, here are links to a few lighter stories that caught my attention this week. A fugitive monkey in Florida that has an enviable number of Facebook fans, coyotes take over Manhattan, a coffee-powered car, and more.

Mystery monkey of Tampa Bay
“This monkey is not outsmarting us. This monkey is getting away based on its athletic ability developed over years and years of evolution,” says Gary Morse, of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Nature highlighted this quote, from a story in the Christian Science Monitor about a rhesus monkey who has been eluding officials in Florida for the past year. The primate is an Internet sensation and has more than 50,000 fans on Facebook.

Wily Coyote
Manhattan had its own wildlife chase this week, when a coyote trotted through the Holland Tunnel and into Tribeca. After a couple of hours, some two dozen cops caught the creature—the third spotted on the island this year. While the New York Post reports that some downtown residents were nervous after learning that the animal had been on the loose, those who saw it had different reactions, saying that it looked “scared” and that "It was funny how the cops couldn't catch him."

Fuel for you and your car
The 'car-puccino' was unveiled this month in the U.K., and the vehicle does exactly what you’d guess—it runs on coffee. “And yes, the 1988 VW was chosen for its likeness to the DeLorean from Back to the Future,” write the folks at dothegreenthing.com.

Video Wars
Finally, the French are getting feisty over food packaging. After Grenelle Environment released an anti-overpackaging ad, French packaging company Elipso retaliated with an anti-anti-packaging video of its own that depicts a world without any wrappers. Watch the videos below, then head over to Huffington Post to vote on which ad you think won the battle.

Grenelle’s video:

Elipso’s response:

Did we miss a great story? Email us at theperch@audubon.org.