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CHAPTER ONE

MONKEYS IN PARADISE

is chapter sets out the basic features of the park and exam- ines the naturalistic concept of display associated with it. It intro- duces the Japanese itself, provides an outline of the monkey park sector, and describes the visitor experience at the monkey park. It shows how the monkey park is represented as a ‘paradise’ where wild but peaceful monkeys can be viewed clearly, close-up, and for an extended period of time. e chapter then examines the monkey park’s relationship to the zoo. It describes how the monkey park denes itself in opposition to the zoo by projecting itself as a ‘natu- ral zoo’ where visitors can observe monkeys under natural conditions rather than the articial conditions of zoo captivity. e claim is that, in contrast to socially isolated and environmentally displaced zoo , park monkeys continue to be part of a troop and connected to the forest.

Monkeys and Monkey Parks

Japanese Macaques are Old World monkeys that, along with , mang- abeys and mandrills, belong to the sub-family of monkeys known as cercopithecines. Less striking in appearance than many , macaques have been described as ‘dull in color and to the initiated are probably the least attractive of the primates’ (Crandall 1964: 107) and ‘nondescript brown monkeys’ (Groves 2000: 82). Macaques have forward-facing eyes, well-developed canine teeth, a denite muzzle (albeit less pronounced than that of the ‘-faced’ ) and a small nose that consists of ‘slit-like nares, opening downwards and separated by a narrow septum’ (Hill 1974: 199). Macaques are ‘one of the most successful radiations’ (ierry 2007: 224) and have the widest distribution of all non- primates. Most wild macaque populations are found in —including in India, China, Burma, ailand, Indonesia and 28  

Fig. 1.1. A Japanese macaque.

Japan (the exception is the Barbary macaque found in and ). In the course of this radiation of macaques throughout Asia, many groups became isolated, as a result of which new species evolved, creating the present-day diversity within the genus. In the process, they colonized a wide variety of habitats, showing them- selves to be highly adaptable to very dierent environments. Donald Lindburg has argued that the secret of the ‘colonizing success’ of macaques lies in their ‘ecological plasticity’ (Lindburg 1980: viii). Also referring to the remarkable degree of behavioural adaptation shown by macaques in dierent places, the Napiers argue that the macaque deserves to be recognized (alongside Man) as ‘the primate of primates’ (Napier and Napier 1985: 7). e Japanese macaque (in Japanese, nihonzaru, ‘Japanese mon- key’) or Macaca fuscata is one of the four macaque species belonging