A Level students go APE at Monkey World!

We are delighted to announce that we have been able to raise the funds needed to secure the second year of adoption at Monkey World for a young Orang-utan called Sylvestre.

He is an engaging young man, aged 6 years, who will become part of a breeding programme to try to save the extinction of the rare Sumatran Orang-utan. There are fewer than 7000 of these primates alive today and the pioneering captive breeding work at The Ape Rescue Centre will help to prevent the extinction of this breed of Orang-utans.

Sylvestre is still a young and immature male, but he has all the attributes of being a highly successful parent. He was abandoned by his mother at birth and then rescued from a zoo in Spain. We spent time watching and analysing his youthful play in our A level Animal Behaviour Studies. We also conducted a series of ethograms which enable us to study the details of primate behaviour.  This included looking at other primates including a wide variety of monkeys, chimpanzees, gibbons and lemurs.

Our visit today was to focus on our A levels and to look at real life examples of primate behaviour. These ranged from operant, conditional and learned responses to those that were innate. It was fascinating to see how these animal behaviours were used by the Centre staff to care for the animals and to look after their well-being. A very good example was where the monkeys were trained to show a shoulder to the perimeter fence for their flu injections. This saved the need to sedate the animals and meant that there was less human intervention.

Many of the animals at Monkey World will stay there because they will not be able to survive in the wild. However, there is an excellent scheme for returning animals to the wild where possible. Monkey World has become globally renowned for its mission to change international policy on the use of primates in the pharmaceutical and scientific industries as well as use of these animals in the pet trade.

We had a fantastic day and our tour guide Rebecca gave us a great insight into animal behaviour careers. Her veterinary science background meant that we were able to cover our A level course in a very practical and meaningful way. Our thanks go to all of the team at Monkey World.

Student quotes:
“I plan to study Animal Behaviour at University next year. The day could not have been better”. Ruth Comer.
“The tour that we had covered the A level animal behaviour work completely and gave us specific examples of the types of behaviour that primates show."
“I liked the way that the vet had trained the monkeys to present a shoulder to her when it was time for their flu jab. This meant that the chimps did not need to be sedated – a really clever idea."
“We adopted Sylvestre. He is a very important young man as his type of Orang-utan is very rare and he will be part of a breeding programme to try to save the Sumatran Orang-utans from extinction."
“The work that Monkey World does to try to change national policy and provide education in other countries as well as the UK about ape conservation is amazing."
"It wasn't just a trip to Monkey World, it was an excellent end to the A2 course. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how primate behaviour varies between species and how similar the chimpanzees really are to humans."
"The intelligence and demeanour of the chimpanzees and Orang-utans gave them an unnerving presence which I would normally only associate with humans."
“It was an excellent opportunity to see the part of the course we were studying, it is remarkable to see how similar to us the monkeys are.”
A level Biology and Psychology students.

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