I’ve always had a thing for monkeys and apes – primates just fascinate me.
A few years ago, I came across Fundacion Mona (check out their great instagram), an amazing primate rescue center located near Girona, Spain and I started sponsoring one of their rescue chimps named Juanito.
A couple of weeks ago I went a little further and attended a two-day course at MONA teaching the foundations of being a primate carer.
Disclaimer: I don’t really have the plan to give up my role as Marketing consultant (at least not yet) but I really wanted to learn something new and get out of my comfort zone.
So, on June 30th, 2023, I found myself in the teaching room of Foundation MONA alongside 17 other students. The course was taught by full-time primate experts and carers Dietmar Crailsheim, Cristina Valsera, and Pablo Rodríguez Ayuso who were our professors over those two days. Oh yes, and it was taught entirely in Spanish, which added an extra challenge to the mix (my level is B2).
Over those two days, I learnt a lot and I realized that some insights were also good general (business) learnings. Others, like examining chimpanzee poo, were specific to primate care but equally intriguing. And in the end I even got a diploma!
Here is a short summary of some of the things we learnt.
The life of a primate carer
The course began with myth-busting about the role of a primate carer and about what you don’t get from the job:
1. Physical contact with the animals, as much as we’d love to cuddle them, it’s essential to maintain a respectful distance.
2. Spending much time with them (when you are inside, they are outside and vice versa)
3. Observing beautiful moments between animals all day as you won’t have the time to sit and watch them all day long.
Basically wherever the apes are, you are not.
Instead, the core tasks involve providing food, a lot of cleaning and ensuring stimulation for the primates. And dealing with a lot of shit (but more about that later).
Learning 1: Many jobs are not what they appear to be from the outside
Requirements and Opportunities for Primate Carers
To become a full-time primate carer is not easy. Here is what you need:
- Three years of relevant experience
- Strong recommendations from professionals in the field
- Secondary skills ranging from accounting to leadership
- Ethical compatibility with the principles of primate care
- Relevant courses and certifications
Also interesting, primate carers are in demand in various settings, including rescue centers, zoos, and laboratories. Surprisingly, the course taught us that the most significant impact can be made in places where animals aren’t well-cared for, such as labs. Providing good care in unfavorable conditions can make a tremendous difference and even inspire others to follow suit.
Learning 2: The most undesirable places can be those were you can make the biggest difference
Challenges and Rewards of Primate Care
The work conditions of a primate carer are tough. It involves physically and mentally challenging tasks, long hours, and an unpredictable schedule that includes weekends and holidays (the animals don’t do bank holidays). On top, carers must be available around the clock for emergencies and be willing to relocate to difficult locations (think primate rescue centers) for career advancement. And to make it worse, the pay isn’t that good either.
It is a hard job and depression is actually rather common amongst carers due to the demanding nature of the work.
Despite the hardships, our instructors—each a seasoned carer—reiterated that it’s a fantastic job that brings immense personal satisfaction and is driven by a good cause.
Learning 3: A hard job doesn’t have to be a bad job
Primate Well-being: Preventing Stress and Enrichment
I found it fascinating and somewhat sad that the first time animal well-being became a thing in Europe was in the mid 1950s. But as so often, it wasn’t out of true consideration for the animals themselves but much rather because meat mass production started and the goal was to prevent disease and to increase productivity.
For all animals more stress means less well-being – therefore preventing stress becomes a primary objective.
However the typical indicators for stress don’t apply to primates:
- Productivity (but primates don’t produce)
- Absence of disease (but it can’t be checked all the time due to cost and capacity)
- Physiology and Biochemistry (same as above, too expensive to check a lot)
- Differences in their relationship to humans (but humans are away from the animals in the center)
So, the only feasible way to observe their well-being is to look at their behavior, which is a task for the carer.
But it’s not that easy as you don’t just need to understand the typical behavior of the species, you also need to understand each individual within the species, as they all have their own foibles.
Learning 4: Unfortunately in most circumstances caring starts once the wallet gets affected
Categorizing Primates
Next we learnt about the species itself and Primates come in a large variety, with more than 500 identified so far.
A common way to categorize them is by their diets:
- Folivores primarily eat leaves
- Frugivores mostly eat fruit
Their diet significantly impacts their behavior. Fruit provides a lot more energy which the frugivores use to protect their scarce food source. This makes them very territorial and aggressive against intruders. On the other hand, folivores are more laid-back as they generally get less energy from their nutrition and there is no need to defend their territory given the abundance of leaves.
Other classification criteria include communication patterns, social behavior/tribe size, territorial tendencies, and movement preferences (swing vs. jump). Of all primates, chimpanzees, who sleep between 8 to 12 hours a day, are the closest to humans. It is also the only primate that eats ants by putting a stick into an ant colony and then pulling it out to lick the ants from it like a lollipop.
Learning 5: The more energy something provides the more fierce it gets protected
Primate Healthcare and the Rescue Process
Primate healthcare involves prevention, early detection, evaluation, cure, and control. Detecting issues early is essential to provide timely treatment and prevent the spread of diseases among the primate group.
For detection the stool is the most important signal. Basically, you have to read their shit. And at this point of the class we went outside, put on some gloves and dug through the daily droppings to examine the state of the monkeys at Mona. We ended up finding screws and springs that the apes ripped off their toys and ate but no indicators of disease.
How do you know which turd belongs to which ape? Well, you can use ink, corn or edible pens for children in their individual food.
When it comes to the rescue itself it is important to understand that most animals in MONA are not there because they are illegal (even though some of the papers are false) but much rather because of the bad conditions they were kept in. Actually, all animals that arrived in Spain before 1986 are automatically legal
Typically, the rescue process involves transporting chimps without sedation to avoid the risk of them suffocating on their tongue. They get transported in a special cage that is very versatile and can be used in cars, planes and other modes of transport. The cage itself is 108kg and a grown chimp can weigh up to 90kg. It takes four strong people to carry those 200kg. We tried it (with one of the student’s inside) and it was hard!
Upon arrival at the sanctuary, the chimps go through three stages: habilitation, rehabilitation, and re-socialization. The journey from rescue to re-socialization can take anywhere from 2 to 6 months, during which the carers play a vital role in helping the chimps adapt to their new environment and coexist with their fellow primates.
Learning 6: Sometimes the shitty things can teach you the most 🙂
About Fundacion MONA:
During the course, we learnt some interesting facts about Fundacion MONA, the sanctuary itself:
- It was founded 18 years ago by the incredible OLGA FELIU, who is a trained veterinarian
- The center has four full-time carers and six carers in training.
- To prevent wild animals from being born in captivity, female chimps receive contraception.
- All animals in the sanctuary are chipped for identification purposes with the same technology as our pets at home.
- Nico, one of the first rescues at MONA, became Spain’s most famous chimp, appearing in ads and photo shoots. Even today, postcards featuring Nico are sold in Barcelona.
- Since its inception there have been two escapes from the center. It’s in their nature to try to get out, whenever a new door or window gets installed the chimps will check immediately if it gives or breaks.
The team there does an amazing job and they certainly don’t do it for money, power or fame but simply because they love what they do and the animals they care for. So if you have read until here, I must assume that you are in awe of them too. Their funds are tight and there are many ways to help them that can be found here.
And if you want to do more for them, let me know and I’d be happy to put you in touch with Olga directly.
Originally published in Linkedin on August 3rd, 2023