A truck carrying research monkeys recently flipped on a Mississippi interstate. Crates busted open, and the primates inside fled, scattering into the woods. Local cops immediately took to Facebook to announce a doomsday scenario: the monkeys were infected with all sorts of diseases, including herpes, hepatitis C, and some may have even had COVID-19. On top of that, the cop said, they were “aggressive.”

Sounds scary, but anyone who wasn’t looking to kiss the monkeys was probably going to be okay. Within hours, Tulane University, whose research center the truck had supposedly departed from, stepped in to clarify a few things.

First off, the rhesus macaques weren’t carriers of any diseases. Secondly, they weren’t even Tulane’s monkeys.

Are the ‘Aggressive’ Lab Monkeys That Escaped From a T

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