donderdag 31 december 2009

Snow Monkeys!

Yesterday was great, after a hike through the forrest along an snowy and icy(!) trail we arrived at the famous monkey Onsen.
As with all the animals we've seen here the snow monkeys are protected and therefore completely unafraid of people. This gave me the chance to get some really nice closeups. Remember, this is not a zoo. If you stare and or grin at them too much they could easily pull a 'Bokito'










The Japanese Macaque lives in mountainous areas of Honshū, Japan. It survives winter temperatures below -15 °C (5°F), and is perhaps most notable for the amount of time it spends in naturally heated volcanic hot springs in Snow Monkey park located in Yamanouchi town, close to a historical Hot spring area named Shibu Onsen. In Life on Earth from 1979, David Attenborough notes that the monkeys (not the entire population) first moved into the volcanic area with the springs, "Only a few years ago."

Interesting read about this type of monkey (in Dutch) came out today: there is a group that actually flosses

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