Usual disclaimer: This information comes from the Cataclysm beta which, as I write this, is still in a pretty early phase of testing. So this information could — and probably will! — change before Cataclysm launches.

Remember the monkey screenshot that Riske of Shadow Council shared with us a couple of weeks ago? Well she’s back with a truly intriguing discovery:

I’m sure you’ve noticed that the new monkeys are “color changers” at the moment, or at least all of the ones I have tamed are changing colors every time I call them, but it turns out that when you tame one of the pickaxe-wielding monkeys in Lost Isles… they keep their pickaxe!

(Click the images below to see the full screenshots.)

Yup, that’s a goblin hunter with his pickaxe-wielding pet monkey.

The monkey in question is called a Smart Mining Monkeys and can be found on the first island after Kezan in the new goblin starting area. These monkeys are, not surprisingly, being used to mine some sort of ore.

Unfortunately they can only be tamed by goblins right now, and even then they aren’t exactly easy to obtain.

I tried to go back and tame one on my first Goblin hunter but it turns out that by the time you hit level 10 you’re almost certainly past the “phase” that has these monkeys in it. So I went back, made another Goblin, got him to right phase, then levelled from 7 to 10 by grinding.

But if you happen to start a new goblin hunter in beta, you should definitely pick up one of these monkeys while you can — if only for the amusement factor.

As Riske says:

Go go Gadget Monkey!