Description of the attraction
Apenhöul Primate Park is a zoo in the small Dutch town of Apeldoorn. This zoo is unlike any other in that it specializes in monkeys of various species. This is the first zoo in the world where monkeys are allowed to move freely outside the enclosures and contact visitors.
The zoo was opened in 1971. It all started with a small private collection. in those years, the law allowed to keep monkeys as pets. It is located in the Berg-en-Bose Natural Park. At first, the zoo housed small monkeys, but in 1976 a pair of gorillas settled here, and three years later they had a cub - the second successful birth of a gorilla cub in captivity in the Netherlands and the third in the world. The mother raised the baby herself, which is still very rare for gorillas in captivity.
Now in Apenhöule there are 70 species of animals, 35 of which are primates. Chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, Madagascar lemurs, as well as many small monkeys live here.
Due to the fact that some of the monkeys can freely move around the zoo, visitors are asked to comply with some requirements, in particular, to close their bags tightly, and even better - to leave them in the lockers at the entrance, or to rent special bags that the monkeys cannot open … Visitors are asked to remember that human food and especially medications can be deadly for monkeys, therefore, guests are strongly advised not to eat anything while walking around the zoo, there are special places for food where access to monkeys is closed. Do not try to touch or pet the monkeys, most likely they will regard this as aggression.
