A YOUNG girl is nearly scalped after teasing a monkey in a zoo.
Horror video posted on TikTok shows the primate reaching out and grabbing the youngster by the hair in Mexico.
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The girl - who looks around 12 - is first seen teasing the monkey by hitting its cage while holding a mobile phone.
Clearly irritated, it retaliated by grabbing her hair not once but twice.
The girl was lucky to escaped with her scalp intact after the terrifying encounter.
Viewers or the viral video said the creature looks like a spider monkey which is native to Mexico and Brazil.
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Tourists are warned to not touch the bars of animal cages at the zoo.
It is extremely dangerous to tease an animal.
Other visitors to zoos have been almost mauled to death.
One man almost had his leg broken and bruises after teasing an orangatang.
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The powerful ape - seven times stronger than a man - grabbed hold the visitor and yanked him towards the cage.
Spider monkeys live in groups of up to 25 monkeys.
When approached by humans in the wild, spider monkeys growl and shake trees and branches to ward off any danger.
They have also been known to urinate and defecate at humans when scared.
It is thought the monkey which attacked the girl feared she was going to attack it.
Animal welfare specialists advise not to tease animals in captivity no matter how funny it may seem at the time.
Caged animals are often very stressed by being in a non-native environment.
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Monkeys have been known to also randomly attack people and snatch children.
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Yesterday we told how a troop of killer monkeys snatched a four-month-old baby from his parents then hurled him off a roof to his death in India.
