Zoo hires Marvin Gaye impersonator to get monkeys in the mood

Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A British zoo aiming to bolster its population of endangered monkeys hired a Marvin Gaye impersonator to visit the enclosure and croon love songs.

The Trentham Monkey Forest in Stafford, England, said David Largie, an experienced Marvin Gaye impersonator, performed selections from the soul legend's catalog including "Let's Get It On" and "Sexual Healing" inside the Barbary macaque habitat.

"We thought it could be a creative way to encourage our females to show a little affection to males that might not have been so lucky in love," Park Director Matt Lovatt said on the zoo's website. "Females in season mate with several males so paternity among our furry residents is never known. Each birth is vital to the species with Barbary macaques being classed as endangered."

Lovatt said zookeepers expect to discover whether the visit had any effect on the monkeys when birthing season arrives in late spring or early summer.