Visitors to the London Zoo were able to view a new species over a recent holiday weekend. Situated between langur monkeys and sloth bears, eight magnificent and scantily-clad specimens of homo sapiens were on display. The intriguing exhibit was part of a campaign by the zoo to get people to realise that humans are a plague species on Planet Earth. Communications manager Simon Rayner explained: “The point is to jolt people into recognising the impact of human beings on their environment and that of other animals. We are saying, ‘Look, here are humans stripped down and treated exactly the same way as other animals.’ We are the same and the way we treat all animals has consequences.”

The display points out that 15,600 species are threatened with extinction by human activity and that more people are born every hour than the existing populations of chimpanzees and gorillas. The cavorting humans in the enclosure seemed oblivious to the controversy. After all, they had plenty to keep them busy: their keeper had provided them with hula hoops for behavioural enrichment and given them a gourmet vegetarian lunch.