Monkey World
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| Monkey World | |
 Monkey World Logo
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| Date opened | 1987 |
| Location | Dorset, England |
| Land area | 65-acre (0.26 km²) |
| Number of animals | over 160 |
| Number of species | 13 |
| Official website | |
Coordinates: 50°41′50″N 2°13′04″W / 50.697311°N 2.217725°W Monkey World is a 65-acre (0.26 km²) ape and monkey sanctuary and zoo near Wool, Dorset, England. Set up in 1987 by the late Jim Cronin, and later operated by both him and his wife Alison, it was originally intended to provide a home for abused chimpanzees used by Spanish beach photographers, but is now home to many different species of primates.
The facility made the news in January 2008 with what The Guardian called "the world's biggest rescue mission of its kind," when it saved 88 capuchin monkeys from a laboratory in Santiago, Chile, where some of the animals had been kept in solitary cages for up to 20 years. The operation was carried out at the request of the laboratory, and with help from the Chilean Air Force, who flew the animals to Bournemouth airport with special permission from the British government.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Primates groups
[edit] Chimpanzees
[edit] Hananya's Group
This group of chimpanzees contains 18 primates. Hananya took over the group after former leader Rodney died after a heart attack. Four babies have been born in this group, but all had to be hand-reared. Rodders (born to Jess), the youngest of these lives in the nursery. Seamus, the eldest (Cherri's first baby)now lives in Butch's group. Ben and Pip (Peggy's only baby and Cherri's second)were being introduced back into this group. The introductions were going very well. Sadly on 17 March 2009, Pip died while under an anthestic.Ben has been moved to the bachelor boys
[edit] Paddy's Group
Paddy is another of the original chimps rescued from Spain. This group contains 20 apes and makes up the largest chimp group in the park. This group is home to Eddi, who is the first chimp-group birth to remain with her mother. Most of the mothers in the park reject their young at birth, but Susie, mother of Eddi and Bart who was born July 2007, has raised both of her infants without any problems. Another 3 babies have been born into this group. Hebe, Olympia's daughter, had to be taken away from Olympia after Olympia's milk dried up and Hebe was slowly starving to death at around 10 months. She was reintergrated into the group after being away for about a year. Clin's only baby, Johni had to be taken away from Clin at birth. Johni now lives in Hananya's group after living in the nursery. Ash, Cathy's daughter, lives in the nursery.
[edit] Butch's Group (Bachelor Boys)
Butch is one of the original chimps rescued from Spain after being treated as a beach photographer's prop. The group contains 15 primates and are affectionately known as 'The Bachelor Boys' as they are all male chimps that don't fit into any other group. Recently the group has grown with the addition of Jimmy from Paddy's group and Seamus from the nursery group. Sadly, On the 8th February 2009, Charlie's condition deteriorated and he died. Ben was moved into this group in june 2009 after he failed to intergrate into hananyas group
[edit] Nursery Group
This group is for the younger chimps. The carer of this group is Sally, who is another of the original chimps from Spain. The group is currently home to 5 chimps including the latest addition Bryan who was rescued from Mexico in December 2006
[edit] Orangutans
There are currently three groups of orangutans living at Monkey World:
[edit] Tuan's Group
This group contains the oldest male Tuan, and three females: Amy (the first orangutan in the park and Gordon's Mother), Lucky, and Ro-Ro (mother of Hsiao-Ning and Dinda). Amy gave birth to a baby girl in October 2008, but the baby died the next day for unknown reasons.
[edit] Gordon's Group
This second group contains Gordon, Hsiao-Lan, and Hsiao-Quai and her 4 year old son Kai. Hsiao-quai is currently expecting her second infant due sometime in 2009
[edit] Orangutan Nursery
The Nursery Group currently lives in a specially designed enclosure for young orangutans. The current residents are: A-Mei, the "foster mother" of the group, and four youngsters: Hsiao-Ning and Dinda (daughters of Ro-Ro) and Lingga and Joly from France and Russia, respectively. On 5 December 2007, Aris (The only Sumatran subspecies orangutan at the park) had to be put to sleep when his health deteriorated after a minor operation on his knee.
[edit] Gibbons
There are currently five groups of different Gibbon sub-species at the park.
[edit] Siamang Gibbons
Currently there are two Siamang Gibbons at Monkey World. These are Sam and his offspring, Onion, who was born in 2000. Mother Sage died in April 2009 due to a heart attack.
[edit] Golden-Cheeked Gibbons
This group of primates is part of the endangered species breeding program. So far there are 11 of these gibbons in the park. They are named:
- Zoey and Jake and their child Kim. 31 March 2008 saw the arrival of baby Kim, meaning "Golden" in Vietnamese.
- Peanut and Pung-Yo, their elder child Tien and their second infant which is female and named Tia Nang, which they welcomed on 18 February 2009. Peanut and Pung-Yo where the first pair to produce a child in the park (Tien).
- Alex and Rafael
- Vietta and Tito.
[edit] Muellers Gibbons
This species of gibbon is quite rare in zoos but there is currently 4 of them in the park: The pair Dalumie and Adidas, as well as two other males Fox and Nini.
[edit] Agile and Lar Gibbons
There are three Lar gibbons and one Agile gibbon living at the park. The Agile Gibbon Paul lives with Kitty, a Lar gibbon, whilst the other Lar gibbons, Ella and Nike, live in another enclosure.
[edit] Other Primates
- Ring-Tailed Lemurs - There are a total of 9 ring-tailed lemurs in the park. They reside in a walkthrough woodland enclosure.
- Stump-Tailed Macaques - There are 7 of these primates at Monkey World and are affectionately called the "Ugly Monkeys". They currently live in one group, by the capuchin lodge. These came from various research centers around the UK. Koko and Roland were put to sleep in November 2008. Fred died in February 2009, and sadly Tim died in April 2009.
- Squirrel Monkeys - There are only 5 of these small primates in the park, two of whom came from a German laboratory, with the other two rescued in March 2008 from the UK pet trade.Another female was rescued may 2009
- Woolly Monkeys - There are 13 of these rare monkeys at Monkey World, including several babies that have been handreared by zoo staff and several who are being cared for by their mothers. One of the babies,Raoul, however died in February 2009
- Capuchin monkeys - 89 capuchins reside in Monkey World. The three originals are Terri, TJ and Gismo. In January 2008, 88 new capuchins arrived from Chile and have all been given names; these new arrivals are currently living in the new capuchin lodge and at the bottom woolly monkey house. A further 2 were rescued from the British pet trade at the same time. Tom died in July 2008. Several females have died since.
- Common Marmosets - There are currently 15 marmosets in the park.
- Goeldi's Monkey - There is just one in the park called Oberon. The female brought in to partake in a breeding program died due to medical problems. Oberon now lives with the female marmosets.
- Cotton topped tamarinsThere are 2 of these at the park.Their names are Uncas and Alice.They arrived march 2009 from kent.
[edit] Present times
At Monkey World, chimps are rehabilitated into large social groups, much as they would exist in the wild. The females are generally kept on birth control because the center is still actively rescuing chimps, so space and funding is limited. Monkey World also works in Asia with the "Pingtung Rescue Center for Endangered Wild Animals" to try to stop the smuggling of gibbons and orangutans from the wild for use as pets. They also conduct undercover surveys of the illegal pet trade in South East Asia.
Within the center there is a hospital and operating theater where most of the medical examination and operations on the primates and monkeys are performed. There is a local vet and a specialist primate vet and the staff at Monkey World are recognized as experts in primate rehabilitation and health.
For the more active there is the woodland walk and the children's adventure play area. The café provides a wide range of hot and cold food, whilst the kiosks sell treats such as ice creams and cola. The well stocked gift shop is very popular, as is the viewing tower, from which you can see all over the park. Monkey World opens at 10am and closes at 5pm (6pm July and August). As of 2009, adult entrance tickets were £10.50 and children (3–15 years old) were £7.25 Family tickets (two adults and two children) cost £31.
All of the enclosures are viewable from level disability friendly paths. There is a section for disabled children in the play area and motorized scooters are available for use in the park free of charge. Guide dogs are permitted into the park. Monkey World attracts over half a million visitors a year.
[edit] Television appearances
Awareness of the park has grown due to the ongoing TV documentary Monkey Business, which has completed its 9th season and its successor Monkey Life, going on its 3rd season. Other awareness is made through general TV coverage across the world, which include:
- Monkey Life on five. Weekdays, 6:30PM, currently showing
- Monkey Life on Animal Planet. Weekdays, 19:30h, currently showing on Animal Planet (Europe)
- Monkey Business on ITV and Animal Planet. A concluded series produced by Meridian Television focusing on Monkey World. Nine series have been broadcast to date, with two specials on "Jim Cronin's Legacy" broadcasted in June 2008. Monkey Business has been succeeded by Monkey Life, produced by Primate Planet Productions Ltd.
- Nature Watch on ITV
- Operation Chimpanzee on BBC
- State of the Ark on BBC
- Animal Hospital on BBC
- CNN & Sky TV Highlighting a rescue operation in Turkey of smuggled chimpanzees
- ITV GMTV Covering the illegal pet trade in Turkey.
- QED Saving Trudy on BBC
- Russell Brand often talks about Monkey World in his BBC Radio 2 programme & podcast, and mentions it on Big Brother Celebrity Highjack when a house mate makes monkey noises.
- Karl Pilkington made a visit to Monkey World and was mentioned in his & Ricky Gervais' radio show on XFM.
[edit] Awards
Monkey World has won an array of awards including Attraction of the Year 2000, and sixth best family attraction in Britain 2004. Jim Cronin and Alison Cronin jointly received the Jane Goodall Award for their work with Monkey World.
[edit] Death of Jim Cronin
On Saturday 17 March 2007 Jim Cronin died in a New York hospital aged 55 years, from liver cancer.
His widow, Alison, and the staff at Monkey World have promised to continue the legacy of Monkey World: "Monkey World will carry on with Alison at the forefront. We will make sure it is Jim’s lasting legacy." [2]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Balakrishnan, Angela. "Dorset sanctuary completes world's biggest monkey rescue", The Guardian, January 30, 2008.
- ^ Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre - MONKEY BUSINESS STAR DIES
[edit] External links
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