Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus )

Having had to return to the marina to allow the girls to depart it really wasn't worth taking the boat out again as we needed to be back early Thursday to do the things needed for the following owners.

So we decided to do the tourist thing and visit Trentham Monkey Forest.  This is an enclosure of many acres covered in suitable habitat for Macaques to thrive.  Basically they live as wild animals with some supplementary feeding mainly with the intention of ensuring that we the paying customer have something to see.  The main purposes of the colony are research and biologists from all over the world visit also excess individuals are returned to the wild in Morocco where the species is in decline.

It is a great experience to be able to watch animals living their lives and see natural behaviour.  It is also a blippers paradise.  Photo opportunities are available everywhere you turn.  The blip is an immature individual taking a short cut from tree to tree.  By watching I worked out when one was likely to take a leap.  Set for burst I managed to catch this.  Macaques are unusual in primates in that the males actively want to "baby sit" the youngsters.  They also use the youngsters to form bonds with other males, it wasn't unusual to see a youngster cuddled between two large males.

The extras are a baby a few weeks old beginning to explore with in a yard or so of a large male.  The other is the same infant riding happily on the male's back.