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Monday, May 7, 2012

Gibraltar - Barbary Macaques


The Gibraltar Barbary Macaques are considered by many to be the top tourist attraction in Gibraltar. The most popular troop is that of Queen's Gate at The Apes' Den, where people can get especially close to the monkeys. They will often approach and sometimes climb onto people, as they are used to human interaction. Nevertheless, they are still wild animals and will bite if frightened or annoyed.
The Macaques' contact with large numbers of tourists was causing the integrity of their social groups to break down, as they began to become dependent on humans. This induced the monkeys to forage in the town, resulting in damages to buildings, clothing, and vehicles. For this reason, feeding the macaques in Gibraltar is now an offence punishable by law. Anyone caught feeding the monkeys is liable to be fined up to £500.
(Source)

These were quite interesting with the interaction with the tourists, tour guides and bus drivers.  There is plenty of warning that these are wild animals, and our tour guide stated that several times.  One woman in another group was scratched. I didn't get that close!

Warning signs are displayed everywhere.


This was the first one that I encountered.  He knew exactly what he was doing.  He had a pleasant expression until the man in the purple shirt decided to try to take a picture with him.



This woman inched her way to sit next to the young one.  You can see the friend's shadow as she was ready to take the photo quickly.

The young ones were very playful and scampered about.

This one was plotting. Look at the expression! Trouble is coming.

AHH!  I was taking photos and didn't see this one coming towards me. I made a quick retreat and moved on.

Here is a series of photos of the car raid.  This one was very skilled at digging through stuff int he car.  He found a package of tissues to play with. Soon his buddy came to join him.




A little bit of tender care happening on the roof top.

 This one was startled with the car backing up and the woman walking.

The adults were patient as they watched the human/ape chaos.


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