Monkey Man

Typically, I try to refrain from posting much about my behind the scenes experiences as an animal unit volunteer at the Woodland Park Zoo. Its not that I don't want to share my up close and personal animal encounters. There are a lot of cool and interesting things that I am exposed to, but I am bound by policies from talking to the press about the ongoings of the zoo...Which I assume also means that they shouldn't end up in a blog either.

That being said, I think that this story is probably OK to mention.

The Asian Bear Unit had a very interesting visitor today. Though I didn't actually get to meet him, his life story really intrigued me. Upon arriving in the morning, I was told that a Buddhist man was going to come by because today was his birthday, and that he has to feed a monkey on his birthday each year. I was a bit taken back by this and found it a bit hard to believe. Hey, I want to feed a tiger on my birthday, but I don't get to do that!!! Sure enough around noon, the keeper I work with went to go meet the gentleman so that he could give the Patas monkeys their snack. When she returned, I got the full details. Apparently, when a Buddhist child is born, the family must take the child to a monk. When this man's parents did so, the monk told the mother that each year on his birthday he must feed a monkey. Because this ritual doesn't typically result in any sort of advice being given, the family felt compelled follow the monk's counsel. The man's family was from Burma, where monkeys run rampant, making the completion of this annual custom a piece of cake. But he faced one small issue -- he was the first of his family to be born and live in the United States, where primates for the most part reside only in zoos. He's apparently been to many different facilities throughout his life to fulfill this unusual bday activity, but fortunately for us he currently lives in the Seattle area. It was really exciting to learn about such a fascinating tradition!!!!