Meet the Monkeys
Wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson revisits a gang of crested black macaques on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, 25 years after his first encounter.
Peanut, Hero and Tarzan are three cheeky monkeys. They live on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi with the rest of their gang of crested black macaques. These very special primates are found nowhere else in the world. Twenty-five years ago, wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson visited Sulawesi for the first time and now he has returned. Fascinated by the monkeys, Colin hopes to reveal their sometimes violent, often playful and, just like our own, highly political world. What he discovers leads him on a much bigger journey than he was ever expecting.
Last on
More episodes
Clips
-
Water fun
Duration: 01:43
-
Mischievous monkeys
Duration: 01:51
-
Introduction to the Monkeys
Duration: 00:59
Music Played
-
Groove Armada
At The River
-
Mr. Scruff
Get A Move On
A Rare Chance to Help
After almost three months filming with the macaques, we all completely fell in love with them. They are such gentle and intelligent creatures, and they made us laugh all day long. But they are in serious trouble and could be about to disappear forever. As the film explains, the local people hunt and eat the macaques. But they don鈥檛 have to: they鈥檙e not starving, it鈥檚 just a tradition.
听
When we asked the scientists what we could do to help the monkeys, they came up with the idea of making a film in the local language, to show local people how unique their monkeys are. Our edit assistant Amber came out to Sulawesi and cut a 15 minute film which we showed in the local village, and it鈥檚 now been screened in over 30 schools and 12 different towns and villages. It is a legacy that will hopefully be used as an education tool for many years to come. If people start to see the monkeys as individuals, and not just as meat, they may yet survive.
Treetop Encounter
An unwanted lunch guest with bad manners
One of our main characters in the film is a young male macaque called Hero. He鈥檚 a very clever and curious monkey and was always trying to steal our equipment. He made off with water bottles, umbrellas, bits of camera kit, anything he could get his hands on.听
听
On one occasion he approached us as we were sitting down to eat our packed lunch, now the scientists we were working with have very strict rules about not feeding the monkeys, so we moved away and tried to scare him off. Unfortunately though, when Hero realized he wasn鈥檛 welcome for lunch, he climbed up into the trees and urinated all over us. After the initial shock, we cried with laughter and skipped lunch.
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Colin Stafford-Johnson |
Producer | Rob Sullivan |
Director | Rob Sullivan |
Executive Producer | Chris Cole |
Series Producer | Roger Webb |
Broadcasts
- Fri 6 Sep 2013 21:00成人快手 Two except Wales
- Fri 6 Sep 2013 21:10成人快手 Two Wales
- Sat 7 Sep 2013 17:00成人快手 Two except Northern Ireland
- Sat 7 Sep 2013 17:30成人快手 Two Northern Ireland
- Fri 11 Oct 2013 08:00
- Sat 2 Nov 2013 19:30
- Sat 31 May 2014 18:00成人快手 Two except Scotland & Wales
- Sat 12 Sep 2015 20:00
- Tue 15 Sep 2015 23:00
- Mon 28 Mar 2016 11:30
- Sat 11 Feb 2017 19:00
- Thu 25 May 2017 00:00
- Fri 17 Aug 2018 14:20
- Wed 30 Jan 2019 16:20
- Mon 21 Sep 2020 15:20成人快手 Two except Scotland
- Fri 27 Aug 2021 16:20成人快手 Two except Scotland
- Fri 1 Apr 2022 15:50成人快手 Two except Scotland & Wales
- Sun 5 Mar 2023 14:35成人快手 Two except Scotland
Featured in...
Wildlife
Compelling wildlife documentaries, featuring amazing animals and stunning landscapes