Monkeys, it is said … can be very cute, are mischievous, and are sometimes downright obnoxious – pulling down washing, stealing food. Note that since people have come to be in, dominate and take over monkey’s habitats – it’s therefore the monkeys’ negative behaviours that might be a result of human interference or overly close proximity to these otherwise interesting creatures!

Many species of primates are also endangered – visit IUCN Red List , and then there are questions of animal rights and the usage of primates in medical research. That’s why there’s Monkey Day, a day that’s been dedicated to raising awareness about non-human primates.

Half the 262 species of monkeys in the world are threatened with extinction. Fifty-eight of the threatened species live in South and Central America, 46 in Asia and 26 in Africa. Of these, 24 monkeys are critically endangered, with an extremely high chance of soon becoming extinct in the wild.

History of Monkey Day – December 14th

Back in 2000, Casey Sorrow was an art student at Michigan State University, and he ended up writing “Monkey Day” on his friend’s calendar as a prank. But then they actually celebrated the occasion with other art students at MSU, and Sorrow later started collaborating with fellow MSU student on the Fetus-X comic strip, where the holiday was mentioned and popularized. Since then, Monkey Day has been observed internationally as a day to celebrate primates (including monkeys, but also apes, lemurs, and tarsiers).

Sorrow himself still does much to promote the holiday and the cause of primate welfare, and in addition to the Monkey Day website, he also maintains a “Monkeys in the News” blog which discusses primate-related news around the world and comes out with a list of the top ten primate-related news stories from the past year every Monkey Day.

Since Monkey Day was created, it really has gone from strength-to-strength. It is now celebrated in many different corners of the world. This includes Scotland, Turkey, Thailand, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Pakistan, India, Germany, and Canada

WHATS SPECIAL ABOUT MONKEYS

Monkeys live in trees, grasslands, mountains, forests, and on high plains. A group of monkeys is called a troop. Most primates share six basic features: forward-facing eyes, eye sockets, grasping hands, nails, fingerprints, and large brains. Monkeys are most easily distinguished from apes by their tails.