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COUNTRY NOTEBOOK: M. Krishnan : Swimming Macaques: The Sunday Statesman: 13 September 2015
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BONNET MONKEYS

" THERE was a small and delightfully shady grove flanking the temple-side pond and the BONNET MONKEYS were in the tree tops.. I have been told that at noon, when the heat was at its fiercest, the monkeys would jump, one by one from the boughs overhanging the pond into cool water to ease the burning in their coats; and although it was well past noon, although I have waited there from 9 O'clock in the morning, they seemed content with adequate leaf shade.

The previous day, too, they had shown no liking for the water while I waited hours in the grove, so I had come armed with inducement this time. The monkeys were hidden in the foliage but I knew they were watching me. I threw a ripe banana well away from me on to the sun-baked steps of the pond and at once there was a flurry of movement in the foliage overhead. A dozen grey forms came slithering expertly down the tree trunks. The big dog-monkey snarled menacingly at the rest to keep them away from the dainty; he snarled warningly at me as well, then strolled casually down the steps, picked up the fruit, peeled it and bolted the firm flesh, beating a swift and undignified retreat as soon as he had crammed the fruit into his cheek-pouches.

The monkeys did not go up the trees but stayed on the ground, some 15 yards from me and hidden by the boles of intervening trees. I took out another ripe banana from the cloth bag and displayed it to the eager, furtive eyes peeping from behind the tree trunks; and then I threw it far out into the water. They continued to peep at me but made no move. I took out my third and last banana, displayed it again, and chucked it into the water quite close to the waiting monkeys. They stayed on behind cover and ignored the bait.

It occurred to me that these monkeys were less intelligent than than their position high up in the 'The Tree of Evolution', in the books on zoology, would seem to indicate. Then the Little Boy who has attached himself to me pointed out they could not be tempted to get into the water with bananas because the fruit sank instantly to deep bottom -- apparently, even creatures right on the summit of the diagrammatic tree are capable of sad from habitual intelligence!

I took out a handful of groundnut (so aptly named "monkey-nut") and threw it into the water -- no easy feat, since I had to throw the light nuts through a strong wind blowing directly towards me. But I did succeed in getting the groundnut right into the middle of the pond. Instantly, the monkeys rushed down the steps but halted on the lowermost step and sat there, waiting for the breeze to blow the floating nuts within reach. The big dog-monkey again dominated the party, but not very effectively since the nuts floated in a wide semicircle and the rest had time to grab what they could while he was busy reaching out for the nuts floating towards him.

Well, this raised a problem. I wanted to see monkeys in the water, to watch them swim, and they were content to wait at the water's brink and grab the nuts as they floated towards the steps. So, being superior in my Evolutionary Status and Intelligence, I decided to suspend the operations till the breeze dies down. Much to the disgust of my companion (whose zest for groundnut was second to no monkey's) I rolled up the bag securely and, using it as a pillow, indulged in a siesta.

When I awake from my nap, the monkeys were still very much there, sitting in a close circle around me. This time when I got a handful of groundnut into the middle of the pond, they did not get blown back towards me, for there was hardly any breeze -- the nuts spread slowly in a circle towards the edges of the pond, and the monkeys distributed themselves on the steps all around. Then the Despotic Overlord got tired of waiting for the slow-moving nuts and plunged into the water, striking out powerfully in a dogpaddle -- the rest took to the water at once, even the very small ones. Thereafter every time I through the nuts into the water, they rushed unhesitatingly in -- apparently, once they were thoroughly wet they didn't much mind the water.

I noticed two interesting things before by bag of groundnuts gave out. Once, when a small monkey swam too close to where the overlord was fishing for nuts, the big monkey grabbed the intruder by the head and held him under the water -- since monkeys swim with only their heads above water, it is easy to drown them in this manner. Normally a powerful dog-monkey punishing a too-cheeky junior grabs and bites the offender, but apparently this overlord was well aware that in the water another technique was more effective. The unfortunate little monkey came up almost suffocated and quite purple in the face, and I expected him to swim ashore for a rest -- but after coughing and spluttering for a moment, he just reached out for the nuts (which the disturbance has spread thick around him), popping them one by one into his distended cheek-poucher with frantic speed.

The other thing I noticed concerned a large She-Monkey with an infant clinging to her abdomen. She was almost as intolerant of neighbours as the overlord just moved further away. She rushed into the water with no regard whatever for her baby; every time the little one was first drowned and then came spluttering up one flank to ride on the mother's back, Jockey fashion -- no, John Gilpin fashion lying flat on the back of its mount and clasping hard with four limbs. Neither mother nor child seemed to benefit by experience, so that after this had happened thrice, I tempted the mother to one side on the steps of the tank and gave her, her share of nuts one by one, passing each nut into her extended hand.

None of the other monkeys came up to me to be fed in the same way, not even the overlord. Many explanations for this occur to me and for many other things I noticed about the inter-group relationship of these macaques, but I would like to study their social life much longer before I commit myself to any statement."

- M. Krishnan

This was first published on 21 August 1960 in The Sunday Statesman

# The photograph of a swimming monkey with the baby riding on the back has not been included here.