It’s easy to forget that humans are primates. Even our closest living relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, look incredibly distinct from our upright posture and mostly bald bodies. Monkeys and lemurs look even less human, but observing non-human primates is an experience much different from watching other animals. There is something uncanny about the way other primates look and behave; a slight thread of connection that spans millions of years of evolution to make us see ourselves in them. It helps that humans are intensely social creatures who love inviting cute strangers into our lives. I’m writing this in the same house as three cats and a dog.
For myself and millions of others in the world, there are few animals that are truly part of daily life. Even native fauna iconic enough to be emblematic of a region might be tucked away in forests far from the eyes of city dwellers in apartments. Besides the local petting zoo, pigeons and seagulls or squirrels, and the pets at home, many people only see so-called exotic animals on vacation or online. My city doesn’t even have a zoo, but I have a smartphone.
Social media has become truly larger than life in the past ten years. Websites that host images, videos, and other users to talk to have gone from being solely hosted on computers to being apps on devices that fit in the palm of our hands, ready to be accessed at any moment. You don’t need me to tell you that we take our phones to the bathroom, to the dinner table, and even to bed with us. You already know that every social media platform since the first jpeg was born has been used to host cute animal pictures. What a lot of people don’t know are the stories of the animals behind the posts that wallpaper Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
Above: A screenshot of the search results for "monkey" on Instagram.
If you’re an animal loving city dweller like me, even if you have no pets you’ve definitely interacted with domestic animals: cats that purr and dogs that lick us. The bliss of domestication is that we have animals who love us as much as we love them and in the same ways, lavishing physical affection on us. It’s a true blessing of you pet my back, I’ll pet yours. But these animals are the biggest outliers in the animal kingdom– most animals are wild, and don’t particularly want anything to do with humans. At least not in the ways we want to have them.
Given that we are so used to having animals love us, many people have mentally extended the mutualistic affection between themselves and their pets to all of animalia. For hundreds of years people have attempted to keep animals as pets that really shouldn’t be; primates being popular candidates for their charisma and cuteness. Whenever I look for new primate news I see suggested searches for listings for pet monkeys for sale, just how I imagine someone sixty years ago reading a comic book encountered an advertisement for squirrel monkeys for sale. One of my friends sent me a scan of that exact ad on Discord, and I wrote back.
Those monkeys pee on their hands to scent mark and naturally live in groups of 50-100+
They have one of the highest brain to body ratios in the animal kingdom. Very intelligent.
I’m used to receiving primate pictures that range from amazing to dubious. Being known as the primate person among friends means that I get a lot of this-reminded-me-of-you’s in the form of a monkey.png. My friend responds:
That’s sad that they were pets.
It’s sad they still are, too. The little squirrel monkey being advertised for $18.95 (FREE cage FREE leather collar & leash FREE toy and instructions included with each monkey) sitting in a person's hand in a little costume was likely taken from its mother who lived in a cage and was hand reared to bond with humans instead of other squirrel monkeys. It probably never saw the treetops, the jungle, or another squirrel monkey that in the wild would be one of dozens of individuals it would interact with. The intelligence its wild cousins use to forage and examine the thousands of details on every bug and leaf would be used performing tricks for its owners. Its diet would be plain and unhealthy.
I don’t know the story of that particular individual monkey, but I have seen dozens if not hundreds of the same stories. I asked my friend for more details on the ad, and he told me he found it on Reddit and sent me the post in question. The comments are a mix of marveling at how much has changed since the 60’s had published that ad alongside one advertising that “You can have a HE-MAN voice”, and personal anecdotes from those who knew someone who responded to similar ads.
“We actually got one. My dad ordered it without telling my mom. We got a call late one Saturday night from the local airport and mom answered they said your monkey is here. Should have seen the look on her face then. We went and got him but unfortunately he didn’t live very long.”
Another commenter with a similar story added more detail about the monkey their uncle ordered:
“Eventually a wooden crate shows up with a [...] starved and dehydrated spider monkey. Sick as hell, they bring it to the vet. Vet says he has no [...] clue what to do with this monkey, and then it died like a day later. Don’t buy monkeys [from] comic books.”
Above: The shop by mail section of a 60s comic book. An ad for pet squirrel monkeys
by mail order is large at the top of the page.
There are more stories involving monkeys that survived to terrorize the families that owned them, the lucky ones given to local zoos. As strange as it is to think that you could once order a live monkey from a comic book, it still happens. Instead of comic books, it’s online marketplaces that are only a Google search away, ready to accept money in exchange for a wild animal. The stories in this one Reddit comments section are painfully un-unique. I have heard these stories many times. Different species, different places, different years, the same tragedies. Monkey attacks owner. Lemur bites mail carrier. Ape assaults visitor. Monkey runs away. Lemur bites itself and rocks back and forth. Ape throws feces and screams. Monkey euthanized. Lemur euthanized. Ape euthanized. Stress and poor diets also catch up to any species, and animals that would live decades in a zoo or in the wild are dead by early adulthood in someone's home.
Primates and other wild animals make even the pickiest and most spoiled house pets seem easy to care for. Many who procure primates as unique pets end up blown away by the difference between expectations and experience, but social media is unparalleled in its ability to show an image without any context. It isn’t just someone’s uncle with poor judgment who owned a wild animal, it’s attractive people with ring lights and confident demeanors that churn out clickable content that portrays the harmful image that wild animals can be housepets. Lemur tries every flavor of Dorito. Monkey picks out new toy. Ape washes car with owner.
Animal influencers present their pets as perfect animals who love them and are sources of endless joy in their unique and quirky lives. Even those that preach responsible animal practices flatten the complexities into soundbites clean enough to keep even the most cautious animal lover clicking. This bombardment of pet primate content is appealing by design and a promotion for primate ownership that comic book ads could only dream of. Not only are these photos and videos of pet primates everywhere online, they draw you in. I love primates and if I didn’t know better I probably would find that video of a capuchin in a little outfit or that orangutan on roller skates pretty cute, but I know how they got there and where they go from here. No matter how sweet it looks, for the animal the likely scenario is birth to cage to YouTube to euthanasia at sexual maturity. There are variations, but a definite pattern.
Above: A pie chart displaying the data analyzing the first 100 posts to show up when “monkey” is searched on Instagram. Pet primates refers to content depicting primates in a human domestic setting, wearing clothes, or otherwise performing human-like actions that would require training. Unethical wildlife refers to content depicting people or their pets feeding, bothering, or interacting with wild primates in a disruptive way. Unethical captivity refers to primates in captivity being harassed or mistreated, or being in captive (non-domestic) settings not designed to meet their needs. Ambiguous content refers to content where it is unclear whether the primate depicted is being ethically treated due to lack of context. Ethical wildlife and captivity refers to depictions of primates acting naturally in settings that meet their needs without being disturbed or mistreated by humans. Ethical memes refers to memes made about primates using photos depicting ethical treatment of primates. Out of the 100 posts analyzed, there were no memes depicting unethical treatment of primates.
Combatting the clickable tide of pet primate content is tough. I can’t expect someone scrolling their feed on lunch break to research the flood of animal videos one by one, or to respond well to accusations that the cute monkey video they hit like on is depicting animal cruelty.
When I started writing about primates online it was an independent venture on Tumblr, a micro-blogging platform that arguably peaked in popularity in the early 2010s. I did it for myself and a tiny following. I was honored and surprised when I caught the eye of a professional primate caretaker who asked me to co-run their primate blog: is-the-primate-vid-cute, with them. The popularity of that blog was already proving too much for one person and I immediately agreed, even knowing in the back of my mind that I could expect to get burned out. I knew there were thousands of pictures of macaques in baby clothes and only two of us, one working full time with monkeys in person. My following on my own primate blog and our shared project was growing, but it was easily dwarfed by an order of magnitude by the tidal wave of unethical animal content.
I continued to research primates, and felt bolstered by every piece of good news. Every endangered species birth and animal rescue bolstered my spirit, but my favorite discovery has been about the primate species I’m a member of: I’m not alone. For every “omg so cute I want one” comment under a pet monkey that shows up on my timeline (if humans can’t tell the difference between ethical animal content and exploitation I can hardly expect the algorithm to) I often see a comment explaining why it's wrong, that monkeys belong in the forests. Sometimes these comments have twice the likes as the heart emoji comments. This might be my internet bubble and not social media at large, but it is a start that keeps me hopeful. Some of the ape sanctuaries I follow have thousands of followers that make memes and reaction images using the photos of happy and healthy animals posted by their caretakers. Generic animal lover pages that post pet primates get scolded in the comments for not vetting content better.
When people think of threats to wildlife it’s easy to think of poaching and deforestation on the other side of the planet. What am I supposed to do besides not buy palm oil and choose sustainable products? What most people don’t realize is that your attention has dollar signs on it. Making money off of social media has never been more viable and while a pet monkey might cost a couple thousand dollars, the ad revenue, sponsorships, and fame from making pet monkey videos can cover the initial investment and then some. Clicks add up, and by taking yours away from someone and giving them to something better you can support ethical animal treatment and conservation without even thinking about it. Blocking and reporting accounts that post primate exploitation images while following and sharing accounts that post primates in ethical and healthy scenarios such as the wild, sanctuaries, or zoos, really matters. As depressing as it initially was to think that the market demand for that squirrel monkey in that 1960s comic book ad still not only exists but thrives, I am persistently optimistic. Just as those Reddit commenters were expressing disbelief that a wild animal could be crate shipped to anyone with a twenty dollar bill, the decades to come may see people equally appalled by the primate mistreatment disguised as love.
There is no doubt in my mind that the future starts now. I didn’t get burned out, but my partner in primates has been hard at work and we haven’t been on our joint blog as much. These days I stick to my personal monkey blog writing my little posts about the world of our closest relatives. Whether it’s doing a deep dive on where the macaque found in IKEA is now (at a sanctuary) or what is being done to help the rarest apes in the world (a lot), I feel encouraged knowing there is a community of people both on the ground and thousands of miles away like me who really care, and are working to create better stories.
Monkey returns to the wild. Lemur gives birth to twin offspring. Ape thrives at sanctuary.
This human smiles, behind a keyboard, miles away.
REFERENCES:
Reddit, r/mildlyinteresting. Users majtomby, makulitman, crazyguy42069. Post link: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/12jsabe/an_ad_to_buy_a_squirrel_monkey_for_less_than_20/
Wisconsin National Primate Research Center: Do Primates Make Good Pets? Link: https://primate.wisc.edu/primate-info-net/pin-factsheets/pin-factsheet-primates-as-pets/
Tumblr, bignosebaby. Link: bignosebaby.tumblr.com
Tumblr, is-the-primate-vid-cute. Link: is-the-primate-vid-cute.tumblr.com
Edited by Wesley Welch
Special thanks to Ares Zimmo and Mod E
AUTHOR BIO
Jamie Headrick is a blogger and conservationist from Canada with a Bachelor's degree in anthropology. Jamie started proboscis monkey appreciation blog Bignosebaby on Tumblr in 2016 intending it to be a short lived and humorous project, but began using it with renewed enthusiasm after watching Orangutan Jungle School clips on YouTube and becoming a full-fledged primate lover. Bignosebaby expanded to include informative posts and appreciation for all primates and the ways in which humans are similar to other members of the primate order, and caught the eye of the creator of is-the-primate-vid-cute who invited Jamie on board as Mod J in early 2022. This year Jamie has partnered with Selametkan Yaki to spread information about the endangered black crested macaque and the people working to protect them from extinction.
As a person whose love of primates was born and raised on social media who lives over 2,000km from the nearest zoo, Jamie understands that many people only see primates through a phone screen and that social media should be a tool for conservation and appreciation, not exploitation. Their dream job is to work in primate conservation education and outreach to help create a better world for people and animals.
To read more of Jamie’s work you can follow Bignosebaby and Is-the-primate-vid-cute on Tumblr.
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