Ape Apocalypse

Since the release of Kingdom last year, I've been watching ape documentaries. It's been fun because I realized how little I actually knew about chimps, orangs, and gorillas, despite loving the POTA series for so long.

I've now finished watching two shows, Monkey Business and Monkey Life. Both shows focus on the primate rescue center in the United Kingdom, Monkey World. Business was the first show, running for 9 seasons from 1998-2006; Life followed it, starting in 2007 and still running to this day, currently releasing their 17th season.

I wanted to highlight these two shows because of how long running they are. You really get to know individual primates and their care team. Seeing newly rescued chimps get settled into groups and get to live happy lives among their own kind always puts a smile on my face. I cried multiple times when apes or humans would pass away, even knowing I was watching old episodes and these incidents had happened years ago.

The humans who work at the center truly do all they can to help the animals in their care. They help primates overcome their trauma, hand-raise abandoned babies, and work hard to provide enrichment to liven up their days. The rehabilitation and release work they're doing in Vietnam, at their sister sanctuary Dao Tien, is incredible; seeing gibbons and other primates living free in the wild is truly heartwarming.

Monkey Business seems to only be available on Amazon Prime (from what I can find in the USA) but all of Monkey Life can be found on YouTube (the newest 17th season is currently airing in the UK but will be released to YouTube later). You can also buy DVDs of seasons from the Monkey World rescue center. The first season of Monkey Life was narrated by Andy Serkis, our beloved Caesar!

I just recently got some goodies from their website: Jeremy’s book that I’ve been eager to read, a pin of Sally because she was my favorite chimp (such a sweet girl and excellent mom to the young orphans!), and a magnet set.

2023

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

Some months ago whilst convalescing from a pretty nasty case of food poisoning I watched Chimp Empire on Netflix, and I thought it was amazing. Chimp society sometimes appears very unnecessarily violent and cruel (not unlike ours), yet there were moments in the series where I was deeply moved with how closely knit and empathetic those chimp families could be towards each other. Again, not unlike us.