Monkey business-part 2

Monkey business- Part 2

Last week I spoke about my visit to the monkey forest which is part of the Trentham Estate in Staffordshire. This week I would like to tell you a little more about these monkeys.

As we walked through the forest, there were guides situated along the pathway who was very knowledgeable about the monkeys and would answer questions or share with us various interesting facts about the monkeys.

We learnt, in the forest, there were two troops of monkeys, one living at the top of the forest and the other further down the forest. The two troops live totally separate lives and do not mix with the other troop, ever.

We saw several baby monkeys, who looked so cute riding on the backs of their mothers

The period of gestation is 5 months and the babies are born at night in the tops of the tree away from menacing predators. The staff are totally unaware of the baby being born until mum comes down from the treetop in the morning bringing her baby with her. It is never known who the father is but any male monkey will try to exert his authority and claim parental ownership. The fracas I spoke about last week came about because a monkey was trying to exert his parental authority over another male monkey by running off with the baby. Mum was very unhappy about this as she did not trust him. Mum wasn’t going to sit back and let this happen. She let him know in no uncertain terms that she was displeased with him by chasing after him. Other monkeys joined in the chase, scrabbling up and down trees. There was a cacophony of noise which got louder and louder and it was over almost as quickly as it had started when the baby was safely returned to his mother.

Seeing the monkeys in their family unit and observing the way in which the monkeys all came together and supported mum in getting her baby back reminded me of the love our heavenly Father has for us. Just as the monkey’s mum was never going to abandon her baby to someone she didn’t trust, our heavenly father will never abandon us. He will always be there for us whatever the circumstances, bringing us back into the fold.