SPIDER MONKEYS

There are three spider monkeys at Monkeyland, and all of them are “special” in one way or another. Spider monkeys have a reputation for being problem animals – they are very clever, strong, rather large and usually equipped with extremely sharp teeth and a strong jaw. On top of that, they have a fully prehensile tail which means they can use it just like a fifth hand, so they can get up to mischief behind their backs too!

Tarzan and Jane came from a petting farm in Johannesburg in 1998. According to the little background information we received, Tarzan must be 19 years old now and Jane 17. The life expectancy of spider monkeys is about 27 years, so they are definitely middle aged by now!
At the petting farm, they had a tiny cage with mesh wiring on the ground for faeces to drop through, but no real floor space, just a little wooden platform for them to sit on and a small sleeping box. The active young monkeys had absolutely no cage enrichment such as trees or toys, merely a few lettuce leaves and carrots.

Tarzan's teeth were completely rotten when he arrived at Monkeyland; his gums were so inflamed that he could hardly eat. Initially we only fed him soft foods such as banana, mango and boiled potato, but he still got bleeding gums. When he was better our vet extracted the rotten stumps from his mouth. Since then his tongue partially protrudes at all times and he is usually drooling all over the place. It would be sad and unnecessary to put Tarzan in a cage, although we hardly ever observe Tarzan climbing in trees. However, it might be best to remove him from the vicinity of the Monkeyland restaurant, since his favourite pass-time is junk food hunting.

Tarzan and Jane arrived weighing about 13kg each, though 5kg would be normal for an adult spider monkey. Despite real efforts to get her to lose weight, Jane has practically remained the same size since she arrived here at the sanctuary. Tarzan, on the other hand, now weighs
around 8kg.

It seems Tarzan was castrated before he came here, so Jane never had much interest in him. Jane also has several problems such as self-injurious behaviour: she scratches her tummy until it bleeds or bites holes into her own tail (this is a rather common zoological occurrence referred to as “Compulsive Grooming Disorder”). Since she still has all her teeth and likes pizza even more than Tarzan does, we cannot let her out for fear of what she can do to restaurant guests and kitchen staff. Another reason why she is caged is that she has a strange phobia about wheels and attacks anything with a wheel, incl. pushchairs, wheelchairs, wheelbarrows and trolleys, which obviously makes maintenance and safaris in Monkeyland very difficult!

Prince Charming is our latest addition to the spider monkey trio, and he now temporarily shares a forest cage with Jane. He came from a sanctuary in Tel Aviv, Israel www.ipsf.org.il.

Prince Charming was kindly sent to Monkeyland in the hope that he would be able to run free, swing in trees and socialise with other primates in a semi-wild habitat. Unfortunately Prince was a bit bewildered and the release was unsuccessful, but a special monkey home is on the cards for 2007 and there Prince Charming will have all the space and friends a spider monkey could dream about.

Prince’s real name is actually Poncho, we only learnt this recently…..…..oops! Next time we must remember to ask the name of the new arrival…….let this be a lesson.

The solution: We’ll have to call him Prince Charming Poncho now - quire a weird name but it will have to do!
The Special Monkey Home will offer our 3 spider monkeys a life with climbing freedom, but without the temptations of restaurants, tourists, paparazzi (visitors with flashy camera’s who snap away in auto drive) and moving wheels! However, our spider monkeys have grown accustomed to having humans around, so they would probably miss the entertainment we furless apes provide them with. Fortunately their new forested enclosure will allow them the choice of staying in the forest away from us humans, or the freedom of coming to watch us through the mesh separating their new home from the veranda of the adjoining education centre.