Researchers studying a group of wedge-capped capuchin monkeys that live in tropical forests of central Venezuela have discovered that the monkeys protect themselves against the annual merciless onslaught of mosquitoes exactly as humans do: by rubbing themselves with mosquito repellent.
But while humans may reach desperately for spritzers or bottles or laughably overhyped ''protective'' skin-so-softeners, the capuchins have learned to poke around in tree bark or termite mounds to extract a wriggling specimen of Orthoporus dorsovittatus, a millipede rich with powerful defensive chemicals called benzoquinones.
The capuchin monkey will then proceed to anoint itself head to foot with the repellent secretions by massaging the four-inch-long millipede into its fur.
And just as the benzoquinones discourage virtually all insects from harassing the millipedes, so the transferred chemicals appear to protect capuchins against the mosquitoes that otherwise would descend on them during the rainy season in sopranic clouds of misery.
