CHIPPIE the squirrel monkey
Chippie sunbathing and watching the neighbours

One of our cages at Monkeyland contains the squirrel monkey retirement home and orphanage. Chippie is an elderly squirrel monkey lady who was brought here from a private home eight years ago. She was never really accepted into our wild squirrel monkey groups and mostly roamed around alone, far away from the
feeding platforms.

At the time there was an elderly squirrel monkey named Magogo (which means “old lady” in Xhosa) who was rejected by her group. Younger monkeys often have little time for older ones, since they slow down the group, attract predators due to their vulnerable look and also because they can be easily bullied away from choice food. To avoid bullying, we moved Chippie in with Magogo and they were best of friends until Magogo died of old age last year.

Presently, Chippie lives with the spider monkeys Jane and Prince Charming, and two orphaned squirrel monkeys. It is often the case that hand-reared primates (and also e.g. lions or elephants) reject their own offspring after birth. This happens because they were not exposed to a normal upbringing and never saw an infant being raised normally. Not all aspects of parenting are instinctive, especially not where such intelligent animals as monkeys are concerned. Primates who are hand-reared often also exhibit sexual/psychological disturbances, such as a complete disinterest in sex or an overactive masturbation drive.

When young primates are rejected at Monkeyland, we make every effort to encourage the mother to take her infant back. If she is not interested, we hand-rear the infant according to strict rules to avoid humanisation and try to give them as much exposure to their own kind as possible from a very young age. Chippie is a very good teacher/carer for the orphaned squirrel monkeys, although she does prefer to hide away from all the noise and commotion! Her favourite pass-time is to sneak a secret mielie snack to a bushy hideaway and to consume it whilst talking loudly to herself (presumably about the deliciousness of her food and the lack of respect amongst the younger generation!)

The current squirrel monkey orphans have already spent a great deal of time freely roaming the Monkeyland forest. When they move out for good, it will be into the large 12ha enclosure and not the Special Monkey Home. However, more youngsters could be orphaned in Monkeyland and the Special Monkey Home would need to be ready to accommodate them from as young an age as possible in order to break the vicious cycle of bad upbringing and future infant rejection.