APES OF THE ROCK Photo

Photographer’s Note

The only free roaming semi-wild apes in Europe, live in the Upper Rock of Gibraltar. In actual fact these are not true apes, rather, a tailless monkey "Barbary Macaque".

They seem to roam with little fear of humans, and seem to welcome them with the opportunity to steal food from the tourist that visits them. While driving along the road at the top of the rock, I saw a hiker with his Nikon DSLR. One of the monkeys jumped him from behind and almost made off with his camera. After seeing that I keep the strap of mine wrapped around my hand, and wonder how many cameras are in the monkey’s den..

There are approximately 250 monkeys, which are divided into 5 troops. There is debate on when they arrived from Algeria and Morocco. The two theories include: The Arabs brought them as pets in 700 AD, or the British in the 1700's. After WWII there was only four monkeys’s left. Winston Churchill then ordered that the population to be raised to 24. An old saying stipulates that Gibraltar will cease to be British on the day that there are no apes left on the Rock.

I have added a WS of one of monkeys having a snack on my shoulder. If you get a chance to spend some time with these animals, try not to scare them as they are wild and will bit, as one of the crew members from our boat soon found out when it decided to bit him on the hand.

delic, robertosalguero, xuaxo, bullybeef53 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

robertosalguero (110) 2007-12-01 11:28

Hello Rodney,

Good thing you didn't lose your camera to one of these creatures. I'm surprised to see a monkey so high up. He seems quite alright where he is and the attention he is getting from your camera. Nice framing and portrait skills here. The colours seem fine as well. Cheers :-)

Roberto

bagpuss (234) 2007-12-01 15:27

Hi,
Well Rodney if an ape can look regal I think this one does lol,great picture mate nice subject and nicely composed.Dave

delic (6735) 2007-12-01 16:00

Really nice close-up. The fill-flash did a good job of bringing out the highlights on the ape's fur without blowing anything out. Interesting note, too. Regards,
Hakan

xuaxo (5835) 2007-12-07 10:24

Hi Rodney,
Great portrait of the macaco (as we say in Portuguese). Our friend stands out with wonderful light on him.
The workshop is really funny. It deserves to be seen; so I put here a direct link to the benefit of other TE members.
Very good note too.
Regards,
F

bullybeef53 (3231) 2007-12-07 15:30

Rodney ,
My dad spent a lot of time during the war in the British navy stationed in Gibraltar.He often told us of the Rock apes and how they played tricks of the troops.
Thanks for the phto and the information.
Jim

jmcl (14149) 2008-02-14 20:38

Hi Rodney,

Wonderful sense of place .. no mistaking the what and where of this image .. I really like the way the focus works here .. sharp animal and Earth and beautiful diffuse sky .. very nice.

take care,

John