Do the monkey!

Are you fascinated by the work that Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey did with apes? Consider that in order to do their studies, these famous scientists got wild primates to lose their fear of them, and that other humans with much less benign intentions then moved in to take advantage of this lack of fear and decimate the animals that they observed.

Do you think that the humane thing to do with a captive monkey is to let it go in the jungle? It might soon succumb to something like not knowing such a basic thing as how crocodiles will eat monkeys, or may be quickly killed as an unwanted intruder by other members of its own species.

Dr. Dennis Rasmussen of the Primate Refuge and Sanctuary of Panama has been wrestling with such dilemmas for decades, and recently spoke at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Tuesday noon lecture series about his work.

The sanctuary operates on the Tigres and Brujas archipelagoes in Gatun Lake, a series of 42 islands that together encompass 2.85 square kilometers. Here scientists teach monkeys who have been taken captive how to be monkeys, in a relatively protected setting. After some 22 years of work on the islands, there are some 7,152 monkeys of five different species at various stages of return to the wild life. The academic work that goes on at the island is geared toward the teaching of reintroduction techniques and wildlife management and the study of how animals come to know their own ecological niches and the effect of human observation on primates. The facility is at once a refuge for animals that weren’t captive born, a sanctuary for former pets with limited skills for coping in the wild, and a rescue center for the Metropolitan Natural Park, where many ignorant city dwellers release monkeys that are no longer such cute and convenient house pets.

When a monkey that has been raised in a cage is let go in the wild, Rasmussen said, “the chances are that within a half an hour it’s dead.” Especially so, he noted when a monkey has grown up never having seen another monkey.

A tiny little island can give such an animal both safety and the opportunity to learn the basics of monkey survival. “Some of them never adjust to it,” Rasmussen said, but “some do quite well.”

Some of the ones that seem to be getting the hang of it are the old Fort Sherman Zoo’s capuchins. “They’re breeding and they’re successful.”

The facility depends on the Smithsonian’s forest rangers for protection against the most serious predators --- humans --- but it has its own organizational existence and alliances with national and international institutions, and seeks to become Panama’s national primate reserve and sanctuary. Rasmussen added that he’d like to reintroduce breeding social groups into forests off the islands. “We aren’t putting the animals in protective custody for the rest of their lives.”

So what are the important things to know about our furry little cousins? “Monkeys have culture,” Rasmussen pointed out. “Mothers teach their offspring,” and that process implies that “reintroduction may be a multi-generational process.”

And what of the urban monkeys found on Ancon Hill? “I don’t see why monkeys should go into a different social category than parakeets and squirrels,” Rasmussen opined, adding that the danger is that if people feed the marmosets they may lose their fear of people, which in turn can lead to the animals being captured and sold by poachers.

To learn more about the work that Rasmussen and his colleagues are doing, visit http://www.PrimatesofPanama.org.

Also in this section:
Primate Refuge & Sanctuary of Panama
Special chemical hazards for women and children

science

The monkey reserve you can’t visit