Monkeyland - Part Two

In the last post you met the squirrel monkey, and brown capucian from South and Central America and the Black lemur from Madagascar.  There were other primates at Monkeyland and other things that I learned along the way.

Did you know that monkey's, with their prehensile tails, can hold a piece of fruit curled in the end of their tail when their hands are too full?  We saw them do it.

Or, that squirrel monkey's use their nimble little fingers to turn over every leaf, stone, or stick to reach the bugs underneath?  Even the we little babies knew how to do it.

We learned about the grandfather of Monkeyland.  Well, Godfather is probably the better term. He and another male had come to Monkeyland from a European zoo.  When his buddy died, leaving him alone, he adopted the squirrel monkey's as his new family.  He came to their defense at every need against the bullies of the forest and the visitors who got too close.  The squirrel monkey's worshiped him, the others were afraid of him.  We were told that he was a bit of a recluse and he certainly made no effort to be easily seen.  He was calm, poised, almost stately and he is a Spectacled Langur monkey. 

Spectacled langurs are named such because of the white circles around their eyes that resemble spectacles.  They are native to Thailand.

We learned that Brown capucian monkeys are kind of trouble makers. As we were watching a black and white ruffed lemur lounging in a tree, a capucian came up underneath him and grabbed his tail in play.  It was a strange scene to witness, a lemur and a monkey swinging and screeching through the trees above us.  Two species playing together.

Here is a relaxed black and white ruffed lemur before the chase.

Here is a black and white ruffed lemur with a capucian on his tail.

In the same part of the sanctuary lived the ring tailed lemurs.  Those of you with children who watched TVO  or CBC would know Zabu, from Zaboomafoo, is a ringtailed lemur.  Lemurs are primates, with divergent digits on their hands and nails (primates have nails not claws), like monkeys, but they don't have prehensile tails, so they can't swing by their tails in the trees.  Like the Black lemur, ruffed and ringtailed lemurs come from Madagascar.

Here is our Zabu.

Nearing the end of the guided walk we came to the suspension bridge.  Monkeyland claims that the bridge is the longest suspension bridge in Africa at 128m.  Here's a view of the family on the way over the bridge.

The last of the free monkey's that we saw on the tour were on the other side of the bridge.  They were the Vervet monkey's and the only species in the sanctuary native to South Africa.  These are the ones that live around our house.  One day a Vervet decided that our neighbours fruit bowl was laid out just for him, so he swung through the open patio door and helped himself.  It caused quite a ruckus when their 11 year old daughter found him in the kitchen and started screaming.  Anyway, this is what they look like when they aren't raiding the neighbours fruit bowl.

The last monkey's on the tour were in one of the quarantine cages.  They were two Howler monkey's who were waiting to be released into the main forest area.  It was surprising to see the difference in colour between the male and female when all the other species male and female looked very similar.   The guide told us that a Howler monkey call could be heard for almost 5km and that they are native to Central and South America.

This is the male Howler.

This is the female.



After spending an hour with monkeys and lemurs moving freely around us, it was a little sad to see these two in their cage.  It helped knowing that they would be released eventually, and it made me glad that Monkeyland was there to allow these amazing primates to roam relatively free.

Next post - It's not my house.