Why Monkeys Paint
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See our monkey artists at work
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Visit our online
Art Gallery to see more paintings by our talented monkeys.
Also visit the monkeys' bio pages by clicking the names at the top of the page to see more of their artwork.
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At Jungle Friends we are always looking for interesting activities to incorporate into our monkeys' psychological well-being program.
Many of the monkeys that come to Jungle Friends have not only been abused and neglected, most have also been species isolated, meaning that they have never been near other monkeys and do not know how to interact with them. It can take as little as a few weeks to many long months before we are able to successfully socialize a monkey with other monkeys, so in the meantime we must keep them mentally stimulated and physically active.
The psychological well-being program includes providing the monkeys with toys, music, TV and even volunteers reading aloud to them, so finger painting was a natural addition. Monkeys can see color and many seem to have the delight of a child spreading paint around on the canvas; many have clear color preferences.
At Jungle Friends, we believe that the highest state that a primate can achieve is the "play state". The program that we use at Jungle Friends has not only helped the monkeys mentally and physically, but has also been fundamental in graduating the monkeys toward independence from humans.
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