China has enlisted an elite squad of falcons and monkeys to see off an army of migrating birds that is threatening to disrupt its Second World War commemoration parade this week.
The display on Thursday will feature 12,000 soldiers and 500 pieces of artillery parading in Tiananmen Square to mark 70 years since the end of the war.
However, officials fear that birds could disrupt aircraft, so they are releasing 10 falcons and several macaque monkeys as a deterrent, according to the Chinese news website Sina.
Wang Minghzi, of China's air force, said the monkeys had mastered the skills necessary to destroy birds' nests after a month's training.
The primates take twigs out of the nests one by one, before shaking the remnants out of the branches. Two of the army's fastest monkeys, Qitian and Ziyun, can do so in under a minute. On completing their missions, the animals are rewarded with corn.