I have loved watching Monkey Business for years, and it never loses its appeal for me. I’ve seen every episode what must be ten times, but it’s such a fascinating programme, it’s well worth watching over and over again.

The late and great Jim Cronin (pictured above) built the very first Monkey World enclosure on an ex-pig farm in Dorset in 1987 to house chimps that he’d rescued from the beaches of Spain where they were being abused and forced to pose for photographs with tourists.

Jeremy Keeling, who is now Animal Manager, joined Jim and the centre grew and grew as Jim, Jeremy and later, Alison Cronin – Jim’s wife – rescued primates from desperate circumstances all over the world.

Animal Planet first began filming at Monkey World in 1997 and the show quickly became one of the most popular shows on AP. Since then another similar show, Monkey Life, has been aired – series three is currently in production – and is shown on both Animal Planet and Five.

In the original Monkey Business, Chris Serle narrated and brought to life the characters and stories of each of the primates and they became as well known to me as the characters in a soap opera. Primates, especially chimpanzees, have always fascinated me and Monkey Business was the first show where we were able to watch the animals so closely that we could get to know them as individuals.

Sally

All of them have a personality and all have their funny little ways; for instance, Seamus is a riotous hooligan full of the joy of living who used to get away with all sorts in the nursery group simply because he could charm his way around Sally, the group’s foster mum. Sally is one of my favourite chimps and she’s been foster mum to dozens of babies in the nursery group for many years because she just loves a baby!

She’s an amazingly intelligent lady and one of my favourite episodes is one in which Sally helps Jeremy to clean the nursery. She grabs a broom and does a pretty good job of sweeping up and she loves to clean the windows too. And while most chimps are scared of water, Sally loves to play in the water surrounding the enclosure and in the warm months, can often be seen splashing around and bathing herself.

Lulu

And over the years, there’ve been a great many cute babies who for one reason or another had to be initially raised by the primate care staff but when they’re ready to be a little more independent, it’s off to the nursery group for care by Sally and one-armed Lulu. It’s so touching to watch these babies being gently cared for by the chimps but one of the most intriguing relationships is the one Jeremy has with many of the primates.

Chimps are around eight times stronger than an adult male but Jeremy can often be seen sitting in one of the enclosures with one or more of the chimps who just love him. Jeremy has the best job in the world in my opinion and I would give anything to have such a close relationship with chimps but equally, he, like Jim did, has dedicated his life to their care. If a primate is ill or just needs comfort, Jeremy’s there for them, day or night. It was the same for Jim too and one of his closest relationships within the primate groups was with Charlie who was one of his first rescues.

Charlie

Charlie is now one of the grand old men of Monkey World but his story is a very sad one. When he first arrived he was a drug addict, had a broken jaw, cataracts, and only four teeth. Despite his terrible ordeal in Spain, Charlie thrived with the love and care he received at Monkey World and has retained his very singular character. There are still some telltale signs of the abuse he suffered though, for instance, when tanks go by from the local military base, Charlie displays and can become very upset. As he’s got older, he’s often suffered at the hands of the other male chimps in fights for dominance, but that’s just the nature of chimpanzee life and everyone keeps a very close eye on Charlie to make sure nobody’s too mean to him!

Of course it’s not only chimps who’ve found a wonderful home at Monkey World; there are many other primates too including orangutans such as silly Gordon and miserable Amy, gibbons, capuchins, macaques, lemurs and many more and Monkey Business introduces them all.

In the years I’ve been watching this show, I’ve learned such a lot about primates; from what their facial expressions mean to how chimp society functions and has a strict hierarchy to the illnesses that can plague them and what food they love to eat. It’s been very informative but above all, incredibly entertaining and it’s a privilege to be able to watch so closely and in such detail as these fabulous and all too rare animals go about their daily life.

Before Monkey Business, we’d only really had brief glimpses into the life of primates through shows by David Attenborough or one off documentaries by Jane Goodall so Monkey Business has been pioneering in many ways.

The show has also raised the profile of the work that Dr Alison Cronin, Jeremy and all the other staff continue to do since Jim’s death and has educated a generation who were badly in need of it as to the precious nature of these endangered animals.

You can see Monkey Business on Animal Planet at various times throughout several days a week so if you’ve never seen it, try to watch just one; you’ll be hooked, I guarantee it!

Images courtesy of www.monkeyworld.co.uk