Monkeys of the Rock
2001 for BBC Wildlife On One
The “Apes” on Gibraltar are not really apes at all. They are monkeys – Barbary macaques - the only monkeys in Europe. This film examines two different groups of monkeys – on the Rock of Gibraltar and those in their native home, in the spectacular Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The monkeys are separated only by a hundred miles or so and the Strait of Gibraltar, but have totally different life-styles.
The monkeys on the rock, surrounded by military artefacts, lead the ‘life of Riley’. Fed once a day by the Tourist Board, they have time for a swim and then an ice cream or two after their siesta. By contrast, the monkeys in the beautiful forests of Morocco survive on a meagre diet of lichen and plants.
Morocco and Gibraltar – worlds apart - and yet the monkeys are running into trouble in both places but for quite different reasons. Wildlife on One investigates.
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