Monkey Sanctuary | Our Residents

Monkey Sanctuary Trust is a unique environmental charity dedicated to:

Woolly monkey welfare, including the welfare, conservation and survival of primates, particularly woolly monkeys and capuchin monkeys.
Capuchin monkey welfare, including Working to end the primate and monkey trade and abuse of primates and monkeys in captivity.
Conserving natural habitats of woolly and capuchin monkeys through education and sustainable living.
monkey rescue, including promoting the rehabilitation of rescued woolly and capuchin monkeys and primates to natural habitats.

Woolly Monkey - what is it?

The woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha) is one of the largest and most beautiful of the South American primates. They live in the middle and upper Amazon basin to the west of the rivers Negro and Tapajos. There are four recognised sub-species of woolly monkey. These are mountain or long-haired woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha lugens), the brown woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha poepiggii), the grey woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha cana) and the brown-headed woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha lagothricha).

Woolly monkeys are arboreal (meaning tree-dwelling), spending most of their time high in the canopy of the trees and rarely venturing to the forest floor.

Woolly monkeys have evolved in a way which enables them to exploit this tree-top niche, to travel easily along narrow limbs, to reach nuts, seedpods and fruits at the end of branches, to leap between gaps safely and even to sleep securely 150 feet above the ground.

Capuchin Monkey - what is it?

Capuchins were named after capuchin monks because the dark fur that forms a cap on their heads and extends down in 'side-burns' resembles the cowl or headdress of the capuchin priests.

Capuchin monkeys are one of the most intelligent and adaptable of all South American primates. The first capuchins (Cebus species) appeared 16.3 million years ago in South America and, like all monkeys capuchin monkeys share about 97% of their DNA with humans. All capuchin species are neotropical, in other words capuchin monkeys are mainly found in northern and central South America. Within this range only the howler monkey is as widespread, and the black-capped capuchin or tufted capuchin has the widest distribution of any new world monkey, as capuchin monkeys are found in every South American country except Uruguay and Chile.

Monkey Sanctuary Trust is based at The Monkey Sanctuary in Looe, Cornwall, UK. The Monkey Sanctuary is home to a social colony of Woolly monkeys and a group of rescued ex-pet Capuchin monkeys. The Trust provides advice and support for primate, woolly and capuchin monkey rescue centres and sanctuaries around the world.

Each year the Monkey Sanctuary Trust educates thousands of visitors on monkey life in the wild and in captivity, on the ethics and problems of captivity for woolly monkeys, about ideas for rehabilitation as well as other animal welfare and conservation issues for woolly and capuchin monkeys.

Monkey Sanctuary Trust Home page

The Monkey Sanctuary Trust's Work

History of the Monkey Sanctuary

Contact the monkey sanctuary

Support the woolly monkeys

Adopt a woolly or capuchin Monkey

International Adoptions of capuchin monkeys

Donate to help woolly monkeys

Volunteer to help the Monkay Sanctuary

Become a woolly monkey Keeper for the Day

Jobs at the monkey sanctuary

The Monkeys - woolly capuchin

The Bats that live alongside the woolly monkeys

Woolly monkey Rehabilitation Programme

About Woolly Monkeys

About Capuchin Monkeys

Wildzone - all about capuchins and woollies

Monkey Rehabilitation Programme

Monkey Sanctuary Visits and Talks

Monkey Sanctuary - Educational Resources

Sanctuary Links

Meet the Woolly Monkeys

The resident woolly monkeys have all been born at the Monkey Sanctuary in Looe and are the descendents of pets rescued in the sixties and seventies. A non-breeding programme was implemented in 2000, when it became apparent that the woollies could not be returned to the wild.

Nicky The oldest member of the colony is easily recognisable by his ginger forehead. Despite his age, Nicky is still a physically powerful member of the woolly monkey colony. Socially, he is also extremely popular with all the other members and has friends all around him. He is often found in room 3, which is his favourite place.
Max As a huge and silvery male you may spot Max by his size and big square head. Max is a responsible adult male and may demonstrate at you as you wander around – please don’t laugh at him or look him in the eye as he may take this as a threat. He is Nicky’s younger brother.
Ivor Ivor is a proud and strong willed character. In comparison to Max or Pablo he is fairly stocky, but he is still one of the most powerful monkeys here. He keeps a close eye on everything going on around the territory and may join Max for some loud demonstrations.
Xingu Xingu easily recognisable as he is very dark and stocky, with a big belly. We have to watch out for how much he is eating. However, his favourite thing is to have a juicy red apple at hand, so we try to make him work a bit harder for his food. He is often with Max and is Ivor’s older brother.
Maya Maya is the only female in the woolly monkey colony, and is popular and respected by all apart from young Oliver, who sometimes likes to chase her. She is often far out in the trees enclosure foraging for delicious wild extras such as slugs and spiders. She loves to spend time with Nicky.
Pablo Pablo is slim but very muscular and powerful. He is a mature and socially responsible young adult who is magnificent to look at and fearless enough to confront any male who may challenge his prowess. Pablo loves to climb the trees and make full use of his powerful prehensile tail and he often does the most amazing demonstrations of strength and agility.
Caju Caju is a sub-adult but is growing fast and can be mistaken for an adult male. He is Oli’s brother and the two are often together but Caju also spends lots of time watching the other adult males and forming strong relationships with them.
Oli Oli is the youngest member of the colony, but is soon to overtake Maya in the size stakes. He is growing daily - canines and all. He still likes to play but is spending much more time hanging out with the big boys learning all the essential woolly monkey skills. He is often out in the trees enclosure.

Meet the Capuchin Monkeys

Our resident capuchin monkeys have all been rescued from the UK, where it is still legal to breed, buy, sell and keep them as pets. We continue to campaign against the UK pet trade, but sadly believe there are between 1500 and 3000 monkeys currently kept in the UK.

Frosty Frosty was the first non-woolly monkey to arrive here in 2001. 7 years on he is the king of the black-capped capuchin group, surrounded by adoring females at all times. The most remarkable thing about Frosty is his size- when he arrived he was overweight and unfit. Now, although still huge, Frosty is strong, powerful and healthy.
Peppy Peppy is an extremely intelligent weeper capuchin who arrived in 2002 after 7 years on his own in a garden shed. He was extremely under-stimulated, and, like all the ex-pets, showed neurotic behaviours. Since arriving here he has flourished with interesting territory, the right diet, but, most importantly, company of monkeys of his own kind.
Chanel Chanel is a young female capuchin who arrived in 2003. Like most monkeys sold into the primate pet trade Chanel was taken from her real mother as a tiny baby. As a result of this she has developed lots of abnormal behaviours and can find humans stressful. Despite this, she does know how to be a real monkey and she lives with Peppy and Mr Monkey.
Tanya Tanya is probably the oldest capuchin here – she could be 30 years old. She is completely uninterested in humans unless they have something tasty for her, and has a calm and busy life with her monkey friends. She loves to groom, sunbathe and forage in her favourite enclosures. She is often with Jackie and Frosty. Mickey Mickey is a tiny blond black-capped capuchin. Her small size is due to bone deficiency caused by an insufficient diet when she was younger. She is a very social monkey who is also very interested in humans if they visit. She did live as a pet with Tanya and Jackie but now flourishes with more opportunities socially and environmentally. Jackie Jackie arrived with Tanya and Mickey after over 10 years in a converted garage. Her ‘owner’ actually thought she was a boy for all the years she lived with him, but we quickly discovered she is most definitely a girl- given her very sexy reaction towards Frosty! She is the most dominant female in the black-capped group and spends almost all her time with Frosty.
Charlie Brown Charlie Brown is an affable, cheerful and friendly black-capped capuchin who arrived in 2005. As a young male capuchin life can be difficult but Charlie Brown has made lots of friends in his time here and loves to play. He is growing incredibly strong and powerful thanks to a good diet and lots of space to play and forage in.
Mister Monkey After 5 years on his own in a converted aviary Mr Monkey arrived in summer 2007 and has been having a very exciting time. He is now mainly living with Peppy and Chanel and they are teaching him lots of things - mainly monkey manners! His physical skills are amazing and he uses his tail more like a woolly monkey than a capuchin. Joey Joey was taken from the wild as a tiny baby and spent the next 9 years living on his own in a tiny cage in London. He had never been outside or seen another monkey since he was 3 months old. Because he was given an inappropriate diet and denied any sunshine, his bones never formed properly. He suffers from a number of physical problems, including a curved spine, jaw and teeth problems, and displaced hips. Despite his physical and social problems Joey is learning fast and his lust for life is a joy to watch. Boo Boo Boo Boo arrived in spring 2008. She is a young black-capped capuchin who has been living as a pet in Nottinghamshire for some years by herself. Her ‘owner’ thought she was a boy for all those years. Boo Boo is healthy and pretty and already making eyes with the other black-cap monkeys – particularly the boys!
Kodak KODAK is a male black-capped capuchin monkey. He was born in 2003 in the wild in Guyana in South America. He was sold to a man in Greece who owned a photography shop and lived here until May 2007. His owner realized Kodak should be with other capuchins and contacted Stitching AAP, a rescue centre in Holland. He arrived here in Cornwall in June 2008, physically fit and healthy and has begun exploring the territory here and making the first communications with other capuchins.
Meet the patas monkeys The two patas monkeys arrived at the Monkey Sanctuary as part of an emergency rescue in October 2008, after another sanctuary where they had lived for 6 months was forced to close down. Sissy and Mumby had previously been part of a harem group in a zoo. When the male died the females were paired up and sent to different sanctuaries across the UK and these two have moved homes a couple of times since. We hope to now offer them a home for life.
Sissy-Jo Sissy has spent most of her life living together with Mumby. Sissy is approximately 16 years old and has been severely overweight for many years. She is a very calm and dignified lady who enjoys perching high up in the new enclosure admiring the views around her and even likes sleeping outside on mild autumn nights.
Mumby With patas monkeys reaching an average age of 21 years, Mumby is an elderly lady at the age of 18. After having moved homes many times during her life she is now offered a permanent retirement home here at the Monkey Sanctuary. Mumby is a bit fitter and more active than Sissy and she enjoys walking and climbing around in her new spacious enclosure.
Meet the Barbary macaques Four macaques arrived at the Monkey Sanctuary in October 2008 along with the patas monkeys. (Sadly one died shortly after arrival). Having been confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in France in 2007, they were temporarily housed in Paris zoo before being sent to a sanctuary in the UK in early 2008.
Donkey Donkey was confiscated from a French travelling circus in 2007 were he had been forced to perform tricks. The trainers made him obey by beating him over the head, and when he was confiscated he had a double fracture to his left leg. Understandably, Donkey doesn’t trust humans easily and can be unpredictable. He was born around 2002-2003 at an unknown location, possibly in the wild. Although still a sub-adult, he is the oldest of the four macaques.
Mario Mario was confiscated by French authorities after being found abandoned, tied to a lamppost. His origins are unknown but he is likely to have been born sometime in 2005. He is a strong character with lots of self confidence, aspiring for the role as alpha male in the macaque group. He can be quite bossy with the other monkeys.

Chico Chico was born in 2005 at an unknown location - quite likely in the wild. There is no information on Chico’s life prior to his arrival at Paris zoo. As the youngest of the macaque boys, he knows how to stay out of trouble but also when to be friendly with the others. He is a good natured and intelligent monkey who likes to climb and explore his new environment and play with his monkey friends.