There is something about the appearance and behaviour of vervet monkeys that draws humans like a magnet. After all, look at this mother cradling her baby whilst eating seeds from a pod in the early morning light.
Her baby is fast asleep and the mother looks content. What is there not to love about this creature?
The social interactions of monkeys with each other are fascinating to observe, especially as they peacefully go about finding food, playing and grooming each other in the bush. So much so that one might be forgiven for thinking ‘Oh cute!’ when sighting a family group such as this one sitting on a table in a picnic spot, for their appearance is very endearing.
Take care and be on your guard though: monkeys that have made themselves at home in areas frequented by humans associate them with food and they are intelligent enough to know the vehicles we get out of are a possible source of further rewards. Keep your windows tightly closed!
As you can see below, even the smallest gap will be investigated. Humans are the real problem though for it is as a result of visitors offering them food that these monkeys become to associate, vehicles, tents, chalets and caravans with something to eat. Wildlife is supposed to be left wild, yet so many people cannot resist interfering.
Yes, monkeys are cute to watch but their presence at a picnic site, for example, makes it impossible to enjoy a picnic! While a friend and I stood outside our truck to have a bite to eat [the tables all had monkey ‘squatters’ on them], one monkey detached itself from the group nearby and approached us like a mendicant. My friend retreated to the safety of inside of the truck as the monkey crouched down and began to hiss at me. I could see it was about to jump to get the food I had not readily offered it, so got in and shut the door too. Note that while I might have felt I was about to be attacked, the monkey was probably more focused on the food than on me.
The national parks display signs warning visitors not to feed monkeys or other wildlife. Such visitors are transient and do not have to live with the long term consequences of their behaviour. They ignore the fact that once monkeys have become habituated to us they actually suffer because of our short-sightedness and may end up having to be euthanized once they become a danger to other visitors.
Something Over Tea 
An excellent informative post, Anne. Our New Forest visitors ignore the warnings not to feed the ponies, too. You might like this: https://youtu.be/-RvrXCt6p6A
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I certainly did enjoy this, Derrick.
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Believe it or not, we have the same problem with people feeding bears. Not a good idea. At all.
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I imagine bears habituated to humans giving them food would be far more dangerous to deal with than monkeys are.
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Absolutely!
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I am so scared of monkeys, they frighten me. Perhaps they are too much like us?
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It depends on where one sees them. Out in their natural habitat they are fascinating to observe.
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They are so human-like, no wonder they fascinate us. We tend to anthropomorphize the behavior of animals we encounter and that is never a good thing! Wild needs to be left wild.
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You are spot on, Eliza.
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Your photos are wonderful, Anne.
It’s a shame when people spoil things for the animals and for others who know better 😏
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Thank you, Belinda.
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I met someone who was feeing our wild goats recently. That too is a very bad idea.
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That should have said feeding of course.
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Goodness, imagine being head butted by one of those goats in search of a bite to eat as you are walking past!
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Love the vervets and your photos. We were in a picnic ground in Kruger when a Vervet ran up to a seated woman and bit her in the butt! She dropped her sandwich and the vervet ran off with it. It got everyone’s attention. The bite didn’t penetrate the skin, but the woman was not happy. I also watched a barbary macaque steal a women’s camera in Gibraltar. She also wasn’t happy. They seem to pick their targets. I have photos which aren’t particularly good of me being chased by a baboon at Sabie River. The rangers were throwing rocks at the baboons because they were raiding the camp. The baboons became enraged, and a male took after me on a viewing platform. I took photos as I ran backwards. I was scared. But, in all of these situations, the animals could have done serious damage, and didn’t. I got the sense they like putting people in their proper place in the wild! The baboon chase was quite scary.
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Monkeys and baboons are the eventual losers in the scenarios you describe – this happens far too often. I empathise with your baboon experience: one entered our vehicle at a lookout point near Cape Town and actually unzipped my bag to get at some packets of nuts in there. I will never forget its fangs right next to my cheek. My daughter and I screamed in fright … and the visitors around us laughed! We did not find the experience funny at all.
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Squirrels are regularly fed and they can become a nusiance.
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Another example of the cuteness of the animal encouraging humans to feed it and then it coming to expect food. Sometimes we cannot help what we do 🙂
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Such an important message, Anne. While it is the monkeys that get the “bad wrap” the real criminals actually are the people who fed them in the first place and taught them that humans are a ready supply of (unfit) food. We were similarly accosted several times during our latest Kruger visit and in one instance actually had to resort to swinging a long stick around before the menacing monkeys went off to pester other picnickers.
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That is so sad. Yet, get rid of one troop of monkeys around the picnic site and another will move in because people won’t change.
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Yes, like you said: “Wildlife is supposed to be left wild.” Thank you for spreading the word and sharing your wonderful pics. We have a huge problem with vervet monkeys all along the KZN coastline. Due to visitors feeding them during the holiday season, which coincides with the mating & breeding season, the young monkeys don’t learn to forage for food, instead, they depend on being fed by humans. Giving in to their cuteness is equally detrimental to the monkeys and the local residents who try to keep them out of their homes, vehicles and vegetable gardens.
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Hester, thank you for this interesting contribution to the ‘monkey vs people problem’. This is a useful perception from someone who has to deal with the aftermath, once the main body of visitors has departed.
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Oh I do agree! Do not feed the wild animals!! Our troop of vervet monkeys, also so darn cute, are at the same time such a nuisance! We don’t ever feed them, but they know that after day-visitors have left, the bins are full of leftovers!
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If they move in to eat leftovers after the departure of the visitors then I suppose you could almost call it a win-win situation.
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In a way, yes! 😃. Though there are a few problems. In order to get to leftovers, they knock bins over and spread garbage everywhere. Also of course they tend to get a bit cheeky and venture too close to caravaners, campers, and fishermen. So far they do still stick to the trees and show a wariness (I won’t say fear) of humans. That could change though if they are allowed to get bolder!
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This is a difficult dilemma.
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That’s interesting about the monkeys – I’d be thinking they were cute too, never expecting them to converge on a car looking for treats. The Metroparks that I frequent do not allow feeding of any wildlife, even squirrels. Someone was sneaking into the park with pails of corn for the deer, so the deer were very smart and started gathering in anticipation of their morning treat. The people were told no more, or their Metropark pass would not be honored.
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That is a good way of dealing with such people.
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P.S. – We have that problem with Seagulls down at the River boardwalk. For a while they were swooping down and grabbing food from a grill. I have no idea how they could not burn their mouth but perhaps beaks or bills don’t have the ability to be burned.
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I experienced a seagull grabbing food from us when we stayed at a chalet along the coast – the discomfort was caused by only one. I wouldn’t enjoy a flock of them swooping down on my picnic!
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The gulls are quite daring and congregate overhead and at this one park near the water, which I write about from time to time (Bishop Park), they have grills and there was one seagull in particular who was prone to swooping and stealing. If people go to sit on a park bench at the boardwalk and they arrive with food, the seagulls line up in a row awaiting tidbits.
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It is so much nicer to see wild animals doing their natural thing (such as in your top two photos) than seeing those that have been habituated so that they beg and/or grab food, even though some visitors (who should all know better) seem to find feeding wild animals irresistible (even when knowing it could lead to the deaths of the animals)! Even backyard feeders can lead to problems when food intended for chosen species end up being eaten by other species who are somehow supposed to know that the food has not been left out for them!
Humans need to be intelligent enough not to entice wild animals with food – whether it is done deliberately or not. Thanks for your post. Let us hope people can learn to modify their own behaviour in relation to wild animals when necessary.
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I have always enjoyed your posts that focus on your monkey neighbours.
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If I’d had any illusions, my experience with monkeys in India would have cured me of thinking of them as cute. So many crying children, after monkeys snatched their ice cream cone or can of soda out of their hands and ran away with it.
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Thank you very much for this contribution – an excellent illustration of the negative outcome of feeding wild animals.
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I love monkeys and every move they make makes me so happy, they have humanlike behavior. I find them so lovely. I am so glad I came across this post.
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Thank you for reading it 🙂
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