Gibraltar, the British territory on the southern tip of Spain at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, is the home of the only population of wild monkeys in Europe. About three hundred Barbary macaques live there, where they are somewhat erroneously known as the Barbary apes (they’re actually monkeys).
![Gibmetal77 [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], from Wikimedia Commons](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Alfred_Holmes_with_Barbary_Macaques.jpg "Gibmetal77 [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], from Wikimedia Commons")
The above picture shows Sergeant Alfred Holmes (1931-1994) of the Gibraltar Regiment with two Barbary macaques, surveying the city from the Rock of Gibraltar. He held the position of “Officer-in-Charge of the Apes” for more than thirty-eight years, calling the macaques “Gibraltar’s greatest treasure.”
![By AlexCurl at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/800px-Rock_of_Gibraltar_Barbary_Macaque.jpg "By AlexCurl at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons")
The consensus seems to be that the Moors brought the monkeys to Spain as pets between the Eighth and Fifteenth Centuries, but monkeys had probably been in Europe long before that.
![By Salim Virji (Gibraltar monkey) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Barbary-Macaque-sunset.jpg "By Salim Virji (Gibraltar monkey) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
I like to imagine that Gibraltar’s monkeys are all that remains of an ancient order that swore an oath to Zeus to guard the Pillars of Hercules for all time, and that the cute noises they make are actually a complex series of signals warning one another whenever a human gets too close to discovering the Rock’s true secrets. All the cute stuff they do? That’s to distract us.
![David Holt London (286 Barbary Macaque Gibraltar) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1540573651_63566239af.jpg "David Holt London (286 Barbary Macaque Gibraltar) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr")
It’s probably not true, but it would make an awesome graphic novel. I just wish I could draw.
![ForsterFoto on Flickr (Ape of Gibraltar) [CC BY 2.0], via ja.fotopedia.com](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/flickr-138605229-original.jpg "ForsterFoto on Flickr (Ape of Gibraltar) [CC BY 2.0], via ja.fotopedia.com")
Photo credits: Gibmetal77 [CC-BY-SA-2.5], from Wikimedia Commons; AlexCurl at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons; Salim Virji (Gibraltar monkey) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons; David Holt London (286 Barbary Macaque Gibraltar) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr; ForsterFoto on Flickr (Ape of Gibraltar) [CC BY 2.0], via ja.fotopedia.com.
