Monkeys

These con­spi­cuous mon­keys from the group of lemurs are at home in the rain­fo­rest of Mada­gas­car. They are con­s­i­de­red criti­cally end­an­ge­red due to hun­ting and are sub­ject to the stric­test pro­tec­tive regu­la­ti­ons. Black-and white-ruf­fed lemurs, also known as Varis, love to take long sun­baths in the early mor­ning hours. The nati­ves have obser­ved this beha­vior and the­re­fore belie­ved that they worship the sun and thus they were decla­red sac­red ani­mals by them.

You are right in front of our 3,000 square meter green island for our chim­pan­zees – our clo­sest rela­ti­ves in the ani­mal king­dom. This is loca­ted in the Ambo­seli Schim­pan­sen Reser­vat. Since chim­pan­zees can­not swim, the natu­ral limi­ta­tion of the moat is com­p­le­tely suf­fi­ci­ent. The rocks, tree trunks, clim­bing ropes and the many gre­ens offer our chim­pan­zees a lot of variety. The island is so exten­sive that young ani­mals spend many weeks on their mother’s back to get to know their sur­roun­dings. You can watch the chim­pan­zees search for hid­den food that the kee­pers hid for them in a variety of places.

The family of the mar­mo­sets inclu­des the Liszt mon­keys, also known as the Cot­ton-top Tama­rin. They have their name in refe­rence to the com­po­ser Franz Liszt, who at the time was wea­ring an idio­syn­c­ratic hair­style. These mon­keys have a wild white head of hair, the mane grows deep into the middle of the forehead, howe­ver the face is black, as are the ears. In the wild, they are pre­do­mi­n­ant in northwes­tern Colom­bia. Since their habi­tat is very limi­ted and threa­te­ned by defo­re­sta­tion, they are clas­si­fied by the World Con­ser­va­tion Union, IUCN, as criti­cally end­an­ge­red!

Geof­froy spi­der mon­keys or black-han­ded spi­der mon­keys live in moun­tain or rain­fo­rests in Cen­tral Ame­rica. They can reach a weight of up to 9 kilo­grams. As with all spi­der mon­keys, their arms and legs are dis­pro­por­tio­na­tely long in rela­tion to the body. This allows them to climb very well. Geof­froy spi­der mon­keys are clas­si­fied as end­an­ge­red on the Inter­na­tio­nal Union for the Con­ser­va­tion of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The stock num­bers are sin­king, in part due to the defo­re­sta­tion of rain­fo­rests.

Geof­froy’s tuf­ted-ear mar­mo­set or white-fron­ted mar­mo­set live in the eas­tern coa­s­tal forests of Bra­zil and belong to the mar­mo­set family. These little tree dwel­lers weigh only about 200-350 grams with a head-hull length of 20 inches and a 30-inch tail. The diet of these diur­nal ani­mals con­sists mainly of tree juices, as well as fruits and insects.

Green mon­keys or Gri­vet mon­keys live in the sav­an­nas south of the Sahara. They live a lot on the ground but flee imme­dia­tely to the trees when dan­ger threa­tens. Green mon­keys have a dark face with a white beard that pro­tru­des from the cheeks.

Hamadryas baboons are rela­ti­ves of the meer­kats and are widely dis­tri­bu­ted in Africa. They can easily adapt to their habi­tat. They live in grassy areas with trees as well as in rocky dry areas. They even occur at heights of up to 4000 meters!

Lion-tai­led macaques, also known as Bear­ded mon­keys, live in the rain­fo­rests of sou­thwes­tern India and in groups of 10 to 20 ani­mals in which a strict ran­king is for­med. They live ter­ri­to­rially and defend their ter­ritory. Bear­ded mon­keys are very skil­led. They can even open the prickly fruits of the Cul­le­nia exa­ril­lata tree. Even tool use, like insects fis­hing with a stick out of a hole, has already been obser­ved. They are curr­ently clas­si­fied as end­an­ge­red!

Man­drills inha­bit the rain­fo­rests of Cen­tral Africa. They are clas­si­fied as a vul­ne­ra­ble spe­cies! These ani­mals usually live on the ground and only occa­sio­nally climb trees. They live in small family asso­cia­ti­ons. The males are usually aloof but always alert and pro­tect their family mem­bers as an enemy approa­ches. Man­drills have a striking, blue-red face dra­wing. The alpha male has the most pro­noun­ced color. This color indi­ca­tes the rank, and addi­tio­nally helps with threa­te­ning and impo­sing beha­vior.

The Patas mon­key, or Hus­sar mon­key, is wide­s­p­read in Africa. You can find it in the Sahel zone from Sene­gal to Ethio­pia. These ani­mals have a spe­cial coat dra­wing that give them their name: their fur is red at the top of the head, white below with dark arms and legs, remi­nis­cent of the jacket of the for­mer body­guards. Patas mon­keys live in large groups and are usually led by a female ani­mal and a male ani­mal.