Monkey Sanctuary | Our residents

Monkey Sanctuary Trust is a unique environmental charity dedicated to:

Woolly monkey welfare, including the welfare, conservation and survival of primates, particularly woolly monkeys and capuchin monkeys.
Capuchin monkey welfare, including Working to end the primate and monkey trade and abuse of primates and monkeys in captivity.
Conserving natural habitats of woolly and capuchin monkeys through education and sustainable living.
monkey rescue, including promoting the rehabilitation of rescued woolly and capuchin monkeys and primates to natural habitats.

Woolly Monkey - what is it?

The woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha) is one of the largest and most beautiful of the South American primates. They live in the middle and upper Amazon basin to the west of the rivers Negro and Tapajos. There are four recognised sub-species of woolly monkey. These are mountain or long-haired woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha lugens), the brown woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha poepiggii), the grey woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha cana) and the brown-headed woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha lagothricha).

Woolly monkeys are arboreal (meaning tree-dwelling), spending most of their time high in the canopy of the trees and rarely venturing to the forest floor.

Woolly monkeys have evolved in a way which enables them to exploit this tree-top niche, to travel easily along narrow limbs, to reach nuts, seedpods and fruits at the end of branches, to leap between gaps safely and even to sleep securely 150 feet above the ground.

Capuchin Monkey - what is it?

Capuchins were named after capuchin monks because the dark fur that forms a cap on their heads and extends down in 'side-burns' resembles the cowl or headdress of the capuchin priests.

Capuchin monkeys are one of the most intelligent and adaptable of all South American primates. The first capuchins (Cebus species) appeared 16.3 million years ago in South America and, like all monkeys capuchin monkeys share about 97% of their DNA with humans. All capuchin species are neotropical, in other words capuchin monkeys are mainly found in northern and central South America. Within this range only the howler monkey is as widespread, and the black-capped capuchin or tufted capuchin has the widest distribution of any new world monkey, as capuchin monkeys are found in every South American country except Uruguay and Chile.

Monkey Sanctuary Trust is based at The Monkey Sanctuary in Looe, Cornwall, UK. The Monkey Sanctuary is home to a social colony of Woolly monkeys and a group of rescued ex-pet Capuchin monkeys. The Trust provides advice and support for primate, woolly and capuchin monkey rescue centres and sanctuaries around the world.

Each year the Monkey Sanctuary Trust educates thousands of visitors on monkey life in the wild and in captivity, on the ethics and problems of captivity for woolly monkeys, about ideas for rehabilitation as well as other animal welfare and conservation issues for woolly and capuchin monkeys.

Monkey Sanctuary Trust Home page

The Monkey Sanctuary Trust's Work

History of the Monkey Sanctuary

Contact the monkey sanctuary

Support the woolly monkeys

Adopt a woolly or capuchin Monkey

International Adoptions of capuchin monkeys

Donate to help woolly monkeys

Volunteer to help the Monkay Sanctuary

Become a woolly monkey Keeper for the Day

Jobs at the monkey sanctuary

The Monkeys - woolly capuchin

The Bats that live alongside the woolly monkeys

Woolly monkey Rehabilitation Programme

About Woolly Monkeys

About Capuchin Monkeys

Wildzone - all about capuchins and woollies

Monkey Rehabilitation Programme

Monkey Sanctuary Visits and Talks

Monkey Sanctuary - Educational Resources

Sanctuary Links

Murrayton Bats

Bats! How much do you know about them? At the Monkey Sanctuary the wonderful and secret world of bats can be discovered. In the cellar of Murrayton House lives a colony of rare lesser horseshoe bats. Confined to the West Country, this is an important nursery roost site. The bats revel in the warmth from the boiler, even in summer, as it heats the indoor monkey rooms.

Arriving in April, bat numbers reaches a peak in July when the females give birth to a single offspring. The adult bats are no bigger than a walnut , weighing a mere 5-9g. The babies are a third of mum’s size when they are born and are ready to embark on their first night-time forage at six weeks old. They prepare with vigorous wing exercises (while hanging off their mums’ bellies) and with daring practice flights around the cellar. The habitats around the Sanctuary provide tasting pickings for the horseshoes, feeding on midges, moths, beetles, lacewings and even spiders.

All this family activity, test flights and acrobatic grooming (bats are very clean animals!) can be seen via an infra-red camera from the Sanctuary’s Bat Cave. Without any disturbance, you can gain an insight into the bats lives and find out that they certainly don’t sleep all day. Though tiny creatures, many bats may live to 7-8 years old. It is even possible that there are individual females that have returned to the cellar every spring for 20 years or more!

By September the nursery colony is starting to disperse and love is in the air as the bats enter their mating season. The females store the sperm until they are ready to fertilise their eggs in spring. With the arrival of winter, the horseshoes seek out the old Cornish mines, tunnels and caves to hibernate in, with 2 or 3 old faithful bats remaining in the cellar.

Of the 17 species of bats found in the UK, many are threatened, with even common species such as the pipistrelle experiencing population declines. Loss of habitat, changes to agriculture and direct persecution have all contributed to this trend. Thankfully, great efforts have been made over the last decade to conserve lesser horseshoe and their populations appeared to have stabilised. The future of British bats will depend on human will and tolerance. Certainly, the Monkey Sanctuary bats will always be welcome.