Many monkeys can be kept on grass, and although it is rarely practical to keep monkeys in trees because they will strip both leaves and bark, this can be used to good effect with some species. Climbing is a crucial requirement, and generally the more climbing facilities available, the better. Height is a dimension often forgotten in designing monkey cages, and zoos that have constructed very high outdoor cages have discovered a way ofdrarnatically increasing the space available for the monkeys without taking any more ground area. At the same time this allows visitors to observe monkeys from the same viewpoint that they would have on safari, by looking upwards. Safari Parks and Wild Animal Parks were quick to discover that monkeys were a major attraction.
Cars always linger longer in the monkey jungle than they do even among the lions.
There is an obvious problem that zoos will have to face soon. A hundred different types of monkeys will require concerted management if they are to survive for many more generations without the necessary importation of more individuals to bolster up the gene pools. With many species this is not a problem. Sufficient individuals already exist, at least for the time being. Become an Internet Zoo Critic and contribute to a worldwide databank of knowledge on mammal and bird conservation.