4 Reason Why You Shouldn’t Feed The Monkeys
Transcript
00:00 Putting food on the table is a fundamental part of any family life.
00:06 Once infants have been weaned, they have to learn how to forage on their own.
00:12 A young Barbary macaque takes its lead from the troop's senior supervisors,
00:18 searching the slopes of the Rock of Gibraltar for a meal.
00:23 The diet of most macaques consists of a mixture of plants and insects like snails, worms, and spiders.
00:33 The Gibraltar monkeys have an advantage over their African and Asian kin.
00:42 They are a popular tourist attraction.
00:47 And despite rules against feeding, they get, and often take, their fair share of handouts.
00:56 Hand feeding often encourages good monkeys to behave badly.
01:04 Local officials have taken measures to control the feeding.
01:09 They offer grains of barley and chopped up vegetables to keep the monkeys happy and occupied.
01:18 It's a healthier alternative to human leftovers that can cause tooth decay and disease.
01:24 But it's a less than ideal solution to a serious problem.
01:30 Any helping hand from humans puts the monkeys at risk.
01:35 On the Rock of Gibraltar, natural predators like dogs and birds are scarce.
01:41 Cars and trucks, however, are not.
01:46 A sentinel watches from above as other members of the troop scavenge for food.
01:52 Suddenly, he appears agitated, scratching and moving sporadically.
01:58 He senses danger and calls out to the rest of the troop.
02:04 It's a very specific call.
02:08 Pitch and loudness vary based on the caller and whom he's calling.
02:19 Barbary macaques can tell the difference between calls by members of their own troop from those in other groups.
02:31 They even have different calls for different threats.
02:37 It's an essential skill for the society to survive.
02:50 Thanks to the warning signal, the foraging party is able to move out of harm's way.