Wow. All of
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***Under construction. Heavily under construction.***
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This is a page with some general information about the care requirements of
primates. There will soon be links to pages with more
specific information. I would like to note, I do not advocate primates as 'pets', but since they are out there, I hope the information will help owners to meet their specialized needs and requirements. I do not think primate ownership is something that should be undertaken lightly. This page is strictly advice, from my perspective, and I warn you now that I am an opinionated person. You, or others, may not agree with what I am writing. I do advocate looking at other sites, talking to other primate owners, shelters, and rescues to obtain information. I also advocate forming your own opinion after you have read up and researched the subject. Primate ownership is a very heated subject in the exotic pet world. Most people who own, or rather, are owned by, primates are often discouraging on the idea of primates as pets. Most people who want primates don't take the time to find out WHY the other owners are discouraging. Primate ownership is not something one should go into with misconceptions, and there are a lot of misconceptions out there. Primate ownership should be a lifetime commitment, like having a human baby, but unfortunately, it doesn't often happen that way. Let's start with the misconceptions, shall we?
It's just like a human baby! Some common reasons people want primates, and my opinions on them:
"I can't have kids/my kids are grown/I want a baby." General outlines of care requirements: "It's just like a human baby!"
A primate infant does indeed act like a human baby. They're small and cute and helpless and totally dependant on 'mom' for protection. Primates do not stay in the 'cute and helpless' stage for very long. When infants, they love to be held.. in fact, their primate mother would never put them down in the wild for fear a predator would get the baby. They don't mind wearing diapers or baby clothes, they like to be preened and held and go for rides or walks. As they mature, they're very much like human children.. they get into everything, they destroy the house, they throw tantrums, they refuse to wear clothes or diapers, they don't want to be held, and then they hit the rebellious 'teenage' years. Upon reaching sexual maturity.. 'puberty', if you will, the primate begins to try and assert it's place in the 'troop', and this can often mean threatening or outright attacking smaller or weaker members such as human children, household pets, and quite often, the person who was 'mommy' or 'daddy'. They're not doing this because they 'hate' you.. this is just normal behaviour for primates in the wild, and they're reacting to their instincts. THERE IS NO WAY TO TRAIN THIS OUT OF THEM. Even if you bottle raised that primate from an infant, cared for it properly, lavished love and attention on it.. the day will come when it wants to find it's 'place' in the troop. At best, you will get a threat display, at worst, your lovable little 'baby' will turn into a frenzied, furious ball of teeth and agility, and you will get attacked. The attacks are frightening, and they can happen in an instant. Again, they don't do it to be 'mean', or because they 'hate' you. This is inborn primate behaviour. This is the main difference between primates and human children.. You can explain to a human child why it's behaviour is unacceptable, you can assign a consequence to the action, and eventually the child's behaviour will modify. You cannot explain to a primate why it's behaviour is unacceptable. These are instincts they are born with. Assigning a consequence will do no good, and in fact, may harm your relationship with the primate. 'Spanking' or even the 'Macaque Hold And Yell' are maneuvers of aggression.. and will be seen as such by your primate. Your primate will not understand, it will not link your aggression to it's behaviour, and you have no way to tell it so in any way that it will understand. You will only confuse the primate, and potentially break it's trust in you. NOTE: I am of the personal opinion that one should never strike or physically punish /any/ animal. I believe aggression only breeds aggression. My views on this are definately biased. Things will be different with MY primate! That won't happen!"
Yes, as a matter of fact, it probably will. You can take the monkey out of the forest, but you can't take the instinct out of the monkey. Most primates are troop animals, they're used to living in large groups of their breed, and in that group, they establish a pecking order. When you take an infant primate home, bottle raise it, treat it like a baby.. your family, your pets, your friends, become it's troop. And it will try to establish a pecking order the only way it knows how. Strangers coming into the house will be treated like a strange monkey approaching the troop.. it will be threatened, and if it does not leave, attacked. Children and other small things, such as pets, will be seen as peers, and they will be the first to be threatened or attacked. This is the reason why the majority of primate sites say 'DO NOT GET A PRIMATE IF YOU INTEND TO GET MARRIED, HAVE CHILDREN, ETC'. Any new addition to the established 'troop' will be seen as a 'stranger' and treated as such. There will probably come a day when your 'beloved little baby' will get in someone's face and possibly bite them. That 'baby' may even pull a full fledged attack and put someone, possibly you, in the hospital. The only things you can do to prevent it are either not bring the monkey home to begin with, or put it in a situation where it cannot do that, ie a troop situation with other monkeys and little human contact. Things you can do when it happens: you can try to adjust to life with an adult primate, see if you can work around the behaviours.. some people have done this with varying degrees of success, or relegate the primate to a habitat with other monkeys and interact with it through the cage. If I neuter/spay or remove it's teeth, it won't get aggressive or bite.
Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Neutering/spaying is a controversial topic, as are teeth removal, and neither has been proven to be effective. Certainly, there are cases where the alterations have lessened the aggression or the effectiveness of the aggression.. but there have been even more cases where the alteration caused no change in the behaviours whatsoever. Neuter/spay can cause all sorts of havoc, because it forever changes the internal balance of hormones. It can cause growth problems, bone decalcification, hormonal imbalances, and other neurotic behaviours. If you do it to early, you can wind up with expensive medical problems later in life. If you do it too late, the primate has already learned a behaviour and the hormone change won't prevent it from continuing that behaviour. Also, neuter/spay WILL NOT STOP a monkey's 'unpolite' habits such as masturbating, or playing with urinal or anal openings, or 'mountings'. Most of these behaviours are provoked by social instincts, or boredom. On the subject of teeth removal: Again, it's controversial. In my not so humble opinion, I find even the thought of such a procedure repugnant. Pulling an animals teeth won't prevent it from biting, or from that bite hurting, it'll just lessen the damage. Again, in my not so humble opinion, if the animal bites you continuously, the human should look into changing their relationship with the primate, not removing the primate's teeth. I can see the justification for removing the canines, because those do the most damage, but I do not see any reason to pull all or all of the front of a primate's teeth. This may be because I've never been on the receiving end of an attack.. but I would never be, because I would not choose to own a primate capable of causing such damage in the first place. I, personally, would rather not own a primate than own one and be put in the situation where I would even have to consider pulling it's teeth out. But that's just me. "If I get a primate, I can train it!"
To train a primate, or any animal, takes enormous time and dedication. You need to schedule a routine, and then never break it. It takes time and repitition, and with primates, you're dealing with an intelligent creature that will get distracted or bored. Again, in my not so humble opinion, if you want to train it to do 'tricks', you should hire a professional animal trainer who has experience with your primate breed. If you think, by 'train', that you can curb or remove some unpleasant behaviour your primate may have.. think again. Very few primates can or will be potty trained. They'll wear diapers when they're babies, but very few of them will tolerate diapers when they're older. Most of them won't go back into their cage to go potty. They'll go wherever they happen to be, whether that's on the floor, on furniture, or on your head or shoulders. They'll walk in the potty, they'll pick it up to investigate it, they'll smear it, they'll throw it, they may even eat it. There's not much you can do except make sure everything in their rooms/cages/enclosures is washable. They'll also pick their nose, smear it, flick it, eat it.. or play with urine or anal openings. They may get erections or masturbate or attempt to mount a stuffed toy, another primate, or YOUR leg or hand. Again, this is normal primate behaviour and if you attempt to 'punish' it, you will only confuse your primate. "I can't have kids/my kids are grown/I want a baby."
This is probably the second most common reason I've seen people wanting primates. The first reason being, of course, "They're so cute." This reason is not, in my opinion, a good reason to get a primate. If you want a human child, my suggestion would be to look into adoption or foster care situations. Primates don't grow up to be human children, they grow up to be monkeys, and unless you want an adult primate, I do not find this an acceptable reason to bring one into your life. The primate will not stay a sweet, cuddly baby, although many people think it will. It will, as all animals and humans do, grow up and want some form of independence. If you are looking for a 'pet' that will like to be held and cuddled and babied throughout it's life, and respond with affection, I would suggest looking into getting a dog. I probably sound a tad bitter about this, and that would be because I've watched too many animals taken in as cute little babies and abandoned when they get older because they don't /stay/ the cute little baby who likes to be held. Primates live a near human lifespan, and they do indeed bond to their human families, even if they get aggressive.. that bond is still there. To abandon a primate, you break that bond, and the primate will never understand. It will only know that it's 'parent' or 'troop' are gone, and it has been put in a strange situation with unfamiliar places and people. It will get upset, and depressed, and potentially neurotic. Most primates I've seen abandoned were given away because the owners couldn't handle the change when the primate reached maturity. So they give it away. It makes me ill to wonder.. if these people took in a primate out of a desire for a 'child', why did they abandon it? Would they do that to a human child if it didn't fit their expectation of what a child should be? Again.. my opinion.
Yes. They are. They're adorable. They're also mischievious, and cunning. They get into everything, and their curiousity can be destructive. They'll uproot plants, open cupboards, empty contents of everything, pull up carpet or upholstery, tear down drapes, etc. They also have habits that we, as humans, don't find so 'cute', or even socially acceptable. They don't understand the concept of 'socially acceptable'.. and there's precious little you can do about it. They'll break things, they'll go to the bathroom on things, they'll chew on or tear apart objects they shouldn't. Baby primates will latch onto your heartstrings with their affectionate helplessness. As they learn to walk on their own, their toddles about the room and curiousity are amazing, wonderful, adorable. That lasts until things begin to get broken or dirtied. Or until the first time they 'affectionately' pee on your head. Or until they bite. "I saw one on TV and it was so neat!"
Most of the primates on TV are young, under 3 or 4 years old, and haven't gotten to the aggressive stage yet. They've also been worked with by professional handlers. If you're thinking of getting a primate so you can train it to do tricks and take it out in public to impress people.. I suggest you call some professional trainers and find out what the regimen is, how long it takes, and what kind of liability insurance you'd need. You must also get a USDA exhibitor's license to bring the animal in public, and you must have liability insurance large enough to cover a suit, should your primate scratch or bite anyone.
"I've always wanted a monkey!"
Yes, but why do you want one? This is something prospective primate owners should sit down and think about. Do you want a living doll, to dress up and play baby with? They aren't. Do you want something that will do tricks? It probably will.. but not the ones you want it to. Do you want a 'cool' pet to impress your friends? I hope you realize that most primates don't like strangers and will not be cute and cuddly .. and will most likely threaten your friends. Do you want an 'unusual' pet? Do you want something you can hold and play with and care for? I hope you've read about how much work is involved in caring for a primate. If you have one, you can't leave it alone, or it will get depressed and unhappy. |