Traci Hanson, Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary’s on-site manager, writes:
Bella likes snacking on grapes, too.I have come to greatly admire the problem-solving abilities of the primates I have had the privilege to work with over the years.
Let me tell you the story of one such primate, the ex-pet snow monkey named Bella. You may have even seen her on TV. She brings a smile to my face to watch her from afar, and I am always surprised by her creativity. She is always playing with random stuff that she finds in her enclosure. One time she was rolling around two uneaten oranges, another time she was carrying a Kong dog toy about, still another time she was making noise banging a couple of pieces of untreated wood together.
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One day while I was cleaning her water trough, I watched Bella moving along in the dirt, picking up little bits (I couldn’t tell what they were), dusting them off, and then popping them into her mouth. I stopped and quietly observed her. Patiently, she would wait for the ants to remove the germ of each piece of hard corn. To my amazement, Bella was taking these bits of corn from the ants as they diligently marched by. She was very careful not to injure any of the ants, or get bit herself, while stealing their hard-earned bounty. With a smile on my face, I walked away thinking, “That Bella, she’s one clever monkey!”
Signing off from the BFUSA Primate Sanctuary,
Traci