Year of the Monkey: Famous Monkeys and Apes

From Singapore’s Ah Meng to trickster hero Sun Wukong, here’s a look at some of these famous primates as the Year of the Monkey approaches.

Ah Meng, a Sumatran orangutan from the Singapore Zoo, died in February 2008. Image: Wildlife Reserves Singapore

Ah Meng

Singapore’s most famous orangutan had many admirers. Over 4,000 people attended his memorial service in 2008, reported local newspaper The Straits Times. As the flagship of the Singapore Zoo, the Sumatran orangutan was photographed with celebrity visitors and foreign dignitaries such as Prince Philip, actress Elizabeth Taylor and pop singer Michael Jackson. The popular orangutan died at the ripe old age of 48 (nearly 95 in human years), leaving behind four children and six grandchildren.

Baker & Able

They were the first monkeys to complete and return from a space mission, two years before Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space. On May 28, 1959, Able the rhesus monkey and Baker the squirrel monkey boarded a rocket that flew 300 miles into space before landing on Earth. However, just a few days later, on June 1, Able died during a post-flight operation. Baker, on the other hand, lived to the ripe old age of 27 and held the record for the world’s oldest living squirrel monkey until his death in 1984.

Blow

This chimpanzee was a constant companion on pop king Michael Jackson’s world tours. The late singer had adopted the primate from a research facility in 1983. But as the chimp grew older and more aggressive, he was handed over to an animal trainer in California in 2003 before moving to his current home at the Center For Great Apes in Florida. According to the singer’s sister, La Toya Jackson, the chimpanzee “grew up around our family, around us, eating with us at the table and doing everything we do.”

David Graybeard

One morning in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park in 1960, behavioral scientist Jane Goodall observed this now-famous chimpanzee scooping termites out of a nest with a spoon-like tool. Before this sighting was reported, it was generally believed that humans were the only species capable of using and making tools. Goodall named him David Greybeard, after the light-colored tuft of hair on his chin. The chimpanzee disappeared in 1968, probably dying of pneumonia caused by a flu-like epidemic in the park.

Dr. Zaius

This evil ape paved the way for others of his kind in the film series. In the original 1968 Planet of the Apes, Dr. Zaius leads a society where the apes rule while humans have become vermin on the planet. Interesting fact about this science fiction series: Its origins date back to 1963, as it is based on La Planète des Singes, a satirical novel by Pierre Boulle. Boulle was fascinated by the human-like expressions of the gorillas he had seen at the zoo.

Hanuman

The Hindu god is widely featured in Indian myths, folklore and literature such as the epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata. He is Lord Ramayana’s greatest devotee and is known for his courage, intelligence, selfless service, grace and compassion. Although the origins of the monkey deity vary from text to text, it is generally agreed that he was born as the son of the wind god Vayu and an apsara (female spirit). He is usually depicted as a figure with a monkey face and tail and a human male body.

King Kong

“Beauty killed the beast” – this story of the colossal gorilla from Skull Island is still present in pop culture today. After all, the iconic scene at the Empire State Building in which Kong clutches Ann Darrow while climbing to the top of the building is hard to forget. The original 1933 King Kong film has since been remade twice, in 1976 and 2005, and spawned countless sequels and spin-off series. A new prequel to the film is set to be released in March 2017, starring Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson.

Sun Wukong

He is the hot-tempered trickster hero and certainly the most famous fictional monkey in China. Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, travels on a pilgrimage with his master, a monk named Xuanzang, in Journey to the West. Not only does he possess a magical staff that can contract into a needle and expand to gigantic proportions, but he also has tremendous strength, speed, and other supernatural abilities. His only kryptonite? The gold band around his temples that his master tightens to keep his bad behavior under control.