Monkey World; an Ape and Monkey rescue centre in Dorset, England. What began as a small primate sanctuary (with just nine rescue chimps from abroad), has now grown to rescue and rehabilitate over 250 mistreated and endangered primates. The sanctuary opened in 1987, and was originally owned by Jim Cronin (before his death), but has now been taken over by his wife Alison Cronin. Monkey World has its own TV programme called ‘Monkey Life’, where they show the everyday antics of their primates. If you are in desperate need of a new aerial to be able to watch this programme, why not give a Gloucester Aerial Installation company a call? They can help with fitting a new aerial, so you can watch your favourite TV programmes in no time.
Here we are going to talk about some of the residents past and present at Monkey World.
The Chimps
Chimps are social animals, but to give them the best chance of happiness, they have been split into different families. There’s the Bachelor Boys; a group of male chimps which have been described as too rowdy for the other group members. Other groups include; Barts group, Hananyas group, and Bryan’s group. Each group dynamic (apart from the bachelor boys) have one alpha male and one alpha female, in which the whole group looks up to – here you can find out more about chimps. Charlie the chimp who died in 2009 at the age of 26, was one of Monkey World’s most loved chimps; originally a photographer’s prop in Spain, he was later rescued by Jim and Alison Cronin in 1989 where spent the rest of his life at Monkey World.
The Orangutans
Orangutans are made up of three groups in Monkey World; The nursery group, Tuan’s group, and Gordon’s group. Orangutans are more solitary primates but work well in a family group nonetheless. Each group dynamic (apart from the nursery group) consists of one alpha male, and the rest females and babies. Once a male orangutan has reached maturity, he will not be able to live with another male. One of Monkey World’s most well known Orangutan is Amy; she was one of the first primates to be housed there and was hand-reared by Monkey World’s head keeper Jeremy Keeling. She is best known for being slightly moody, and very food motivated. She gave birth to Gordon in 1997, who was eventually hand-reared by the keepers as Amy had lost interest in looking after him.
Gibbons
Monkey World is also home to a wide variety of Gibbons; including the Golden Cheeked Gibbons, Siamang Gibbons, Mueller’s Gibbons, Lar Gibbons and Agile Gibbons. Gibbons are endangered in the wild, so Monkey World, along with other rescue centres teamed up to create the Dao Tien Rescue Centre in South Vietnam; an organisation that works to save endangered primates like Gibbons from the pet trade. They also work to rehabilitate small monkeys in a hope to that they can be returned back to the wild.
Small Primates
There are also many small primates housed at Monkey World such as Capuchin Monkeys, Marmosets, Cotton Top Tamarins, Woolly Monkeys, and many more. In 2008, a big and daring rescue plan took place in an attempt to save 88 Capuchin Monkeys from a laboratory in Chile, something they thought they weren’t going to be able to achieve at first, but was thankfully successful. Alison and the fellow keepers work tirelessly every day to care for their primates, and to rescue further apes in need.
