"The Man with The Yellow Hat" and Curious George, the pet monkey, are enduring characters in books, comics, film and television.
A pet monkey is a monkey kept as a pet. Monkeys are beloved for their entertainment value, resemblance to humans, and human-like abilities,[1][2] but the practice of keeping monkeys as pets is criticized by primatologists and zoologists due to issues surrounding conservation, the animals' welfare, and public health and safety.[3][4]
Legal aspects
In the United States, most states restrict monkey ownership, whether via licensing requirements or outright bans, but, as of 2016, 13 states allow it.[5] The United Kingdom passed new legislation in 2024 that makes it illegal to own a monkey without a license.[6] The Captive Primate Safety Act, a bill before the 118th Congress, would have a similar impact in the US if passed.[7]
In the European Union, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Hungary have bans on the keeping of primates.[8]
Monkeys have been kept as pets for centuries, though, in the West, up through the 19th century, ownership was mostly limited to the wealthy — notably, royalty — and to those in the business of entertainment.[11]
When the British first began to explore Africa, young monkeys were often captured and taken back on board the ship to entertain sailors. For example, a Senegal monkey was kept as a pet by a ship's cook in the 19th century and entertained passengers with its antics.[12]
Around the turn of the 20th century in the US, owning monkeys became a social fad,[13] a pattern that would repeat over the course of the century, often spiking as a result of media anthropomorphizing monkeys and normalizing their suitability as pets. In the mid-1910s, for example, dancer and fashion trendsetter Irene Castle was seen publically and in photos with a pet monkey, inspiring fans to seek similar pets.[14][15] A 1930 news story noted monkeys' popularity with "society folks," referring to monkeys as providing a " ' delightful background' for the summer parties."[16] Similar trends of monkeys as fashion objects were seen in Europe as well.[17][18]
As the price of monkeys declined over time, more people purchased them as pets. Sources suggest that the market for monkeys in the US skyrocketed in the late 1950s and 1960s.[19][20] According to the Simian Society, there were 750,000 pet monkeys in the US in 1971 -- more than the number of registered poodles. But monkeys proved to be much more difficult than poodles to care for. Of the estimated 40,000 monkeys sold each year, roughly 36,000 died within a year.[21][22] In Los Angeles, health officials expressed concern regarding the "recent own-your-own monkey fad."[23]
While many people enjoyed owning monkeys in their infancy, they found that the animals become unmanageable — “wild” — upon reaching adolescence.[24] In the late 1960s, the first monkey sanctuaries appeared in the US, providing an option for unwanted pets.[25] (Other options included euthanizing the animal or keeping it caged and removing its teeth.[24]) Access to sanctuaries was limited, however. As a sanctuary founder in Texas stated, his facility can only help "a fraction" of the monkeys who are abused or abandoned: "It’s not the kind of work that there will ever be a solution to."[26]
As service animals for the disabled
In the 1970s, a Boston-based group called Helping Hands trained capuchin monkeys as monkey helpers to assist quadriplegics and other people with severe spinal cord injuries or mobility impairments. Due to changes in law regulating the use of primates, Helping Hands shifted away from using monkeys and instead focused on assistive technologies in 2022.[27]
In popular culture
Mystic and spiritual master Meher Baba with his pet monkey named Lucky in India (c. 1940). The monkey had been given to him by Princess Norina Matchabelli.
In popular culture both actual and fictionalized accounts of pet monkeys are utilized extensively. Monkeys are popular in numerous books, television programs, and movies.
Sun Wukong (the "Monkey King"), a character who figures prominently in Chinese mythology, is the main protagonist in the classic comic Chinese novel Journey to the West. The television seriesMonkey, the literary characters Monsieur Eek and Curious George are all examples. The winged monkeys are prominent characters in The Wizard of Oz.
There have been many famous pet monkeys with Tarzan's Cheeta arguably the first famous pet "monkey" although they continued to live in the jungle. Nkima was the original Cheeta-like character in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics. Tarzan and Cheeta have been repeated across all major popular culture mediums including books, films, television, games and comics. Katie, a white-headed capuchin, played Marcel in the popular U.S. series Friends and also Los Angeles Angels' mascot "Rally Monkey." Finster played Harvey Keitel's pet thief, Dodger in the movie Monkey Trouble. Bubbles was a companion to Michael Jackson and became intertwined in his celebrity and was even a subject of a Jeff Koons sculpture. Frankie the Monkey has been seen in Sean-Paul and Juliane's magic act all over the country.
Curious George
Curious George is the protagonist of a popular children's books franchise by the same name, written by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey.[28] The books feature a curious pet monkey named George, who is brought from his home in Africa by "The Man with The Yellow Hat" to live with him in a big city. Around the world, the adventures of Curious George have been translated in many languages.[29] The character has spawned books in many languages, two television series, two stop-motion animated shorts,[30] an animated film, Curious George, featuring Will Ferrell, a video game and he has been linked with numerous products and companies.
Norma Desmond owns a chimpanzee prior to the beginning of Sunset Boulevard (1950). The chimpanzee's death, in a roundabout way, prompts Desmond to take on Joe Gillis as a kept man.
Television
Debbie the Bloop (named for the unusual sound it made) was the chimpanzee with very long ears from the first season of Lost in Space.
Klaus was Dieter's touchable monkey on the Saturday Night Live skit "Sprockets"
Jonny the Monkey is "the most famous celebrity in Kazakhstan" according to Borat in many of his interviews and introduced as Kazakhstan's "most successful actor" by Borat in an opening skit of "Saturday Night Live" in November 2006.[31]
Marcel was Ross' pet monkey on the TV show Friends.
^Brandt, Leonore (1951). Monkeys As Pets: A Complete Monkey Manual: Their Habits, Training and Care (Revised and Enlarged 1953 ed.). All-Pets Magazine.
^International Perspectives: The Future of Nonhuman Primate Resources. National Research Council (US) Institute for Laboratory Animal Research. 2003.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)