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There were 6 or 8 in a glass-walled cage; the
ceiling was wire mesh. There were branches to climb, hanging ropes, and a
tire swing. Nuts, sunflower heads, and ears of corn were scattered about
the concrete floor. Jakub said that as a child he used to spend hours watching
them but now it was more difficult because he felt bad about their confinement.
I could relate to that but somehow it didn't hit me so hard, maybe because
I imagine we slightly more advanced primates also spend our lives in cages,
mental as well as physical.
The monkeys ranged in size from about 20 - 50 cm tall. The smallest
looked oldest, with a shrivelled face like that of an old man. Maybe it was
a baby, who could tell? This tiny elderly baby monkey was obsessed with a
sunflower head which already had all the seeds eaten out of it. It struggled
comically to bring it up on a perch, dropping it often, climbing down, retrieving
it, and climbing up again. Finding no seeds, it bit the stalk in vain, then
abandoned it to search for something else. But when another, larger monkey
picked it up the little one ran back and grabbed it, like a jealous lover
still possessive over the ex- he's dumped. They skirmished back and forth
but soon the larger one won out. Politics are simpler in the
monkeyhouse. |
