Who are you calling an ape?

Apes? Who gives a monkey's? Well, I do, for one.

The Tetsaban Phana website www.phanacity.com has this artist's impression of the planned study centre to be built in Don Chao Poo.  It looks good to me, but I am much less keen on an alternative design that features a large disney-like structure. We are hoping that the centre will be an educational resource as well as a fun place to visit. There is no reason to think that education and fun are mutually exclusive (though years spent in school might suggest that they are).

 

What worries me a little is that the series of pictures and drawings begin with the title "APE MUSEUM". Our monkeys are NOT apes. Apes have no tails. Ours have LONG tails. They are long-tailed macaques. I think everyone is agreed that the centre will contain exhibitions relating to monkeys other than macaques, and that will include apes. But while all apes are monkeys, not all monkeys are apes. 

Just before we left Thailand last month, Pensri and I visited Thailand's leading expert on primates, Professor Dr Suchinda Malaivijitnond, director of the Primate Research Centre at Chulalongkorn University. She had lots of good advice for us, and has agreed to take further part in the project to set up the centre. We mentioned to her that the Governor of Amnat Charoen felt that 'Primate' was not a word widely understood (hence the need for a study centre, in part) so he has suggested 'Ape' instead. Dr Suchinda agreed, but said that the best alternative to 'primate' would be 'monkey'. There is no problem with the Thai title, because as you can see above, it would translate as 'Monkey Museum'. So PLEASE, TETSABAN PHANA:  use the English word 'monkey' for the sake of accuracy.

Another academic, the first we got on board, is Dr Panee Wannitikul of Suranaree University of Technology, Korat. She suggested the name 'Centre for Monkey and Environment Studies'. She pointed out that in a conserved forest there will be plenty of other species (bird, amphibian, insect, plant, fish ...) that make this name appropriate and hopefully of interest to students of schools and universities.

Next week we have an appointment to see Dr Stephen Lea, Professor of Psychology at Exeter University. He specialises in animal behavior / animal social behaviour. His students study monkeys at a local zoo. We're hoping he can point us in the direction of useful audio-visual resources for exhibition. And we are hoping we can point him in the direction of some non-zoo monkeys in Phana. 

 

Comments

[Mike]

Good stuff Lawrence. Monkey Museum! However I fancy the Thais might go for the more Disney like approach.

Personally I don't like Macaques as they can be aggressive, Itrust the Phana variety are well mannered!

[Martyn]

Lawrence the Monkey Centre is a great idea and it looks good in the proposed plan. It should get a steady stream of tourists if it's marketed in the right way. I hope the centre will have brochures and booklets on sale too.

Its got to be monkey and not ape.

[Lawrence]

Hi Martyn and Mike. Yes, its an exciting project. The money is in place for the building, but it seems largely up to Pensri and me how the centre actually develops after that. Not quite sure how that came about.
I'm already preparing brochures for Phana, so the Monkey Centre will be next on the list.
As for aggressive monkeys, well, we will have to educate them, too, I suppose; though ours are pretty tame compared to PKK ones. They don't have the same number of hominids to deal with. Not yet, any way.
Thanks to you both for your comments. I hope the right people in Phana are reading them -- they usually do.