Pigtail macaques have olive brown fur over their entire bodies, except for their undersides, which are white. The fur on the top of their heads is dark brown or black and grows in a round pattern. Pigtail macaque infants are born black and as they mature, their fur changes to the adult coloration.
Males have much larger canine teeth than females, measuring 12 mm (.472 in), on average, which are used in aggressive interactions. Pigtail macaques have an abbreviated tail, less than the length of the body from head to rump, which is often bare or covered only by sparse fur. Pigtail macaques get their popular name from their tails, which are short and carried half-erect so that they somewhat resemble a pig’s tail. They move with their four limbs on the ground and through trees. Pigtail macaques have an average lifespan of about 26 years.
A trained male monkey is able to pick about 1000-1500 coconuts a day, while a female monkey still collects about 600 coconuts a day!
In the first place, the living area of the monkey must be clean. It must have bright and rapidly moving eyes and always be active. The shape of the monkey should be not too fat, big or small.
We often hear the story that the monkeys are obtained from the wild. The story goes that a mother monkey is shot, and the hunters take the baby from her dead body and sell it. The reason is that only young monkeys can be trained. This is not correct. A baby monkey holds its mother very tight. You must be a very good hunter to be able to shoot only the mother, without hurting the baby. Furthermore, if you are able to do this, and you have killed the mother, you must then kill nearly all monkeys in the pack, as the dead mother and her baby will be protected by all other monkeys in the group.
We have students of all ages, sometimes even 6 or 7 years old. And that is no problem.
According to Thai law, it is not allowed to keep monkeys, except when you keep the monkey for the collection from coconuts you are allowed to own one. When you own a monkey for coconut collection, the monkey is registered. It has a microchip implanted, and the parents must be known, and also registered.
