#proboscis monkeys

P.S. Have a funny GIF for reading! 🦍🦧🐒💞

I couldn't possibly objectively rank primates, but I can certainly list a few of my favourites!

The proboscis monkey is a long standing favourite of mine, and is the reason I created this blog in the first place!

I love gibbons. Siamangs, with their inflatable throat sacs are particularly unique and charming.

Mandrills I have more of a personal connection to-- every time I have encountered mandrills I have found them to be really nice! Both the family group at the Granby Zoo and the Calgary Zoo's sibling pair have been social, curious, and welcoming to me. As large and intimidating as they look, mandrills have been very pleasant to me.

I really love every great ape, but lately I have been particularly fond of bonobos. They are truly unique in having a positive physiological reaction to strangers, and their desire to share and connect with others is just too good to be true. They aren't entirely non-aggressive as some may think, but rather have different methods for venting aggression that revolve around social sexual behaviour.

When this strange monkey (middle) was spotted for the first time in Malaysia in 2017, heads turned. It's no secret that habitat loss has devastated primate populations and that their territories have been limited by growing palm oil plantations. While this has led to increased conflict between some species who are forced to share space with others, this unusual monkey appears to be the product of love, not war. It's thought that she is the offspring of a proboscis monkey and a silver langur.

They observed that the monkey’s face was closer to that of a proboscis monkey than silver langur, though its nose, while pronounced, was not as long, and its skin was grey. Its hair, long and dense, resembled that of a silver langur, though it did not have a side mane as is common for the species, and its colour showed patterns typical for a proboscis monkey:

They observed that the monkey’s face was closer to that of a proboscis monkey than silver langur, though its nose, while pronounced, was not as long, and its skin was grey. Its hair, long and dense, resembled that of a silver langur, though it did not have a side mane as is common for the species, and its colour showed patterns typical for a proboscis monkey.

What's more is that she may not be the only of her kind:

Observers told researchers they had seen mixed-species groups in the area, and interspecific mating had been photographed.

The adult female and her baby were last photographed in 2020. Efforts are underway to connect primate habitats via rope bridges to prevent the kind of forced close quarters that have led to increased proboscis/langur connections, so the monkeys can expand their territories and connect with more of their own kind. These human built connections have been successful when implemented for orangutans.

1.) All About Monkeys, illustrated by Jean Zallinger, 1958.

2.) Wonders of the Monkey World, written/illustrated by Jacquelyn Berrill, 1970.

3.) A First Look at Monkeys and Apes, illustrated by Harriett Springer, 1979.