Several bouts of heavy rain signal the start of the monsoon season. All the monkey pens have some part covered in plastic as all the monkeys, just like humans, hate to sit out in the pouring rain, and this rain is just like water is being emptied out of a bucket! Our well had dried up, meaning we were relying on the short daily amount of piped council water, and the garden had started to shrivel up so it’s not all bad, but it’s quite hard to keep up the appreciation through a solid 3 months of downpours.
Scotty, the newest arrival has now met our youngest group of macaques, they are still too young to challenge him, so although wary of a new male they are quite happy to associate with him. He was so astonished at meeting other monkeys that at this stage he is no threat to them. The older monkeys will want to put him in his place straight away, and he has no clue how to react, show too much fear and they will take that as encouragement to beat him up, stand up for himself and they will be even more determined to put him in his place! The subtle correct responses are still entirely alien to him but he will need to pick them up quickly in order to mix with others of his age. He is now being walked in the gardens so is getting lots of new experiences and has even been swimming in the pool. Because of his diet, of left over human meals, he doesn’t think much of healthy fruit and vegetables and is not convinced yet that they are even edible!
Phooka and Puck now tolerate Phoenix, one of our 16 rescued cats who before their arrival had claimed sleeping on the bed as her right. She will wait till they have settled down and then sneak up; otherwise they tend to pull her tail and whiskers till she moves off.
