13 May 2014

Travelin' Tuesday: Gibraltar


The so-called Barbary ape (Macaca sylvanus) is actually a monkey - a tailless macaque.  They're the only macaque that occurs outside Asia; most live in North Africa, from Morocco to Libya, but a couple hundred live in Gibraltar - the only primates other than humans native to Europe.  Legend has it that if they disappear from Gibraltar, the British will lose control of the colony.  They therefore receive good care; the British Army's Royal Gibraltar Regiment was responsible for them until 1991, when they turned the apes over to the government of Gibraltar.

Picture taken 25 Jul 03.

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