Shared spaces and entangled lives-I: Insights of human–macaque coexistence from early days !
KAUSTABH BARUAH

On 19th February, 2021, National Geographic published an article titled “Monkeys still forced to pick coconuts in Thailand despite controversy”.
Being an animal cognition researcher myself, my mind raced to trace the histories and tales of human-animal relationships as my eyes skimmed through this article.
Gaining insight into the histories of such relationships is critical to understand, acknowledge, and address pertinent issues of today where nonhuman animals are increasingly being forced to share spaces with humans.

Besides helping us to acknowledge the intricacies of such interactions arising out of shared spaces and resources, an understanding of the environmental histories can also further open doors to effectively plan and develop policies that help mitigate negative human-animal interactions at the interface of a rapidly urbanising planet in the Anthropocene.
In this series of articles, I will attempt to trace the histories and chronicles of humans sharing spaces with wild and free-ranging nonhuman animals, particularly in the context of four large wild mammals and free-ranging dogs, that have been best known to adapt to human modified environments and are often involved in interactions with humans in varying degrees.
Through this series, I will also analyse how such relationships of entanglement with humans have changed over time and how the attitudes of people towards these nonhuman animals along with, while also analysing the future of such coexistences.
In the first chapter of this series, I will discuss literal descriptions and cultural narratives of human relationships with one of our closest living ancestors, the monkeys, that are known to possess extreme behavioural flexibility and adaptability to thrive on human modified environments.
Historical and cultural narratives of Human Monkey relationship in India:
People not only tolerate, but venerate and feed monkeys out of religious and cultural beliefs especially in the towns and cities of South East Asia, and yet there has been growing news reports of monkeys coming in conflict with humans and the threat that they possess to human life and property. While the spectrum of the nature of relationship that people share with monkeys may apparently seem to be dichotomous, but is in fact very complex. Looking at past literatures and narratives offer us an insight to the nature of this relationship borne out of mutually shared resources, entangled lives and cultural beliefs (Radhakrishna, 2013).
Cultural beliefs of people can have a major impact on how people look at nature, especially nonhuman animals, and consequently shapes the nature of relationships between human and nonhuman animals. Micheal Cook described the tolerant practice of polytheistic religions towards animals when comparing it to monotheistic religions while commenting on an Islamic text written in 1326.

He cited the example of Hinduism where monkeys are worshipped and revered as gods while allusions to monkey in Islam is quite disdainful (Cook, 1999). Similarly, Ramanujan’s discourse on Ramayana describes that while monkeys play a crucial role in Valmiki’s Ramayana (composed between second century BCE and second century CE and usually accepted as the earliest written version of the Ramayana), yet in the Jain rendering of the Ramayana, the Paumacariya (circa 2nd–4th CE) by Vimalasuri, the part of the monkeys were played by the vidyadharas instead, who were celestial beings sporting monkeys as emblems on their flags. (Ramanujan, 1992; Radhakrishna, 2013).
Tamil is one of the oldest and classical languages of India, and refers to the Dravidian language that is spoken mainly in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tamil is also spoken in the nations of Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Fiji. Sangam or classical Tamil literature consists of Eight Anthologies of Verse (Ettutokai), Ten Long Poems (Pattupattu) and a grammar composition, the Tolkappiyam.

The Eight Anthologies comprise of Narrinai, Kuruntokai, Ainkurunūru, Patirruppattu, Paripāt.al, Kalittokai, Akanānūru and Puranānūru. Sangam poems are classified, on the basis of their themes, as akam (interior) and puram (exterior) poems. Akam poems are also known as love poems and depicts the various experiences of love between a man and a woman, while puram poems are about action and public life and typically deal with heroic kings, great battles, valorous deeds and the community at large (Ramanujan 1967, 1985; Hart 1999).
There are five kinds of landscapes in Akam poems – mullai (forest), kurinci (mountains), marutam (pastoral), neytal (sandy seashore) and palai (wasteland). Each landscape is associated with a particular aspect of love – mullai with patient waiting, kurinci with lover’s union, marutam with lover’s infidelity, neytal with anxiety and palai with separation – and may be evoked by one or more elements characteristic of the landscape, such as a specific time, season, bird, animal, plant and occupation (Ramanujan 1967; Selby 2011, Radhakrishna, 2013).

Akam poems have vivid descriptions of monkeys such as Ainkurunuru that has a whole section devoted to monkeys called Kurakku-p-pattu, or Ten Poems on the Monkey (Selby 2011). The poet uses the metaphor of a male monkey to describe the protagonist and his behaviour in this section. Although Sangam poems rarely distinguished the species of the monkeys, they penned poetic descriptions of the behaviour of monkeys around them.
Beside acknowledging their presence, primates or specifically macaques in early Tamil literaturewas not deified but rather described as inquisitive, troublesome, grasping and lively(Radhakrishna, 2013). This highlights that macaques have been living and sharing spaces with humans since much ancient times.

Historical accounts of entangled lives and shared spaces from around the world:
While monkeys harvesting coconuts may be a news to many, but monkeys sharing spaces with humans is an age old practice that finds descriptions in the annals of environmental history. Illustrations of monkeys serving man can be found in ancient Egyptian history. Maspero’s History of Egypt, describes a picture that “represents men and monkeys gathering the fruit of a group of dôm palms.” (Maspero, G. A History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria. Edited by A. H. Sayce. Translated by M. L. McClure. London, n. d. Grolier Society edition, Vol. IV, p. 341).
Adolf Erman notes in Aegypten that since fig trees have gnarled trunks, they rarely attain more than sixteen feet in height, with trunks too weak to sustain the weight of the gardeners. Hence people “send tame monkeys into the branches to gather the fruit for them.” (Erman, Adolf. Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, Tübingen. 1885, p. 279. English version by H. M. Tirard, Life in Ancient Egypt. London, 1894, p. 199).
Sir Gardner Wilkinson on his exposition of Egyptian history elaborates how monkeys might have been trained to assist in gathering fruits. Wilkinson writes, “Many animals were tamed in Egypt for various purposes . . . and in the Jimma country, which lies to the south of Abyssinia, monkeys are still taught several useful accomplishments. Among them is that of officiating as torch-bearers at a supper party; and seated in a row, on a raised bench, they hold the lights until the departure of the guests, and patiently await their own repast as a reward for their services. Sometimes a refractory subject fails in his accustomed duty, and the harmony of the party is for a moment disturbed, particularly if an unruly monkey throws his lighted torch into the midst of the unsuspecting guests; but the stick and privation of food is the punishment of the offender; and it is by these persuasive arguments alone that they are prevailed upon to perform their duty in so delicate an office.” (Wilkinson, Sir Gardner. Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. 3 vols. New edition, revised and corrected by Samuel Birch. New York, 1879, Vol. I, pp. 381–82)

The descriptions of association between humans and monkeys also find a place in the chronicles of another ancient civilisation. Apollonius of Tyana was a Greek Pythagorean philosopher who was born a few years before the Christian era. He had travelled extensively and among the countries he visited was India.
His travel accounts were later collected, translated and elaborated by his disciple Philostratus, where Apollonius comprehensively describes monkeys participating in harvesting pepper for humans in India, “It [the pepper tree] grows in steep ravines where it cannot be got at by men, and where a community of apes is said to live in the recesses of the mountain, and in any of its glens; and these apes are held in great esteem by the Indians, because they harvest the pepper for them. . . . For this is the way they [the apes] go to work in collecting the pepper; the Indians go up to the lower trees and pluck off the fruit, and they make little round shallow pits around the trees, into which they collect the pepper, carelessly tossing it in, as if it had no value and was of no serious use to mankind.

The monkeys mark their actions from above out of their fastnesses, and when the night comes on they imitate the actions of the Indians, and twisting off the twigs of the trees, they bring and throw them into the pits in question; then the Indians at daybreak carry away the heaps of spice which they have thus got without any trouble, and indeed during the repose of slumber.” (Philostratus [“the Athenian”]. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana. English translation by F. C. Conybeare. 2 vols. London and New York. [Reprinted 1917.] Vol. I, p. 239)
Monkeys performing human labours was also reported by another explorer of natural history José de Acosta, who was also a Jesuit monk. He published the following account: “I saw one [monkey] in Carthagene [Cartagena] in the Governour’s house, so taught, as the things he did seemed incredible: they sent him to the Taverne for wine, putting the pot in one hand, and the money in the other; and they could not possibly get the money out of his hand, before he had his pot full of wine. If any children met him in the street, and threw any stones at him, he would set his pot down on the one side and cast stones against the children till he had assured his way, then would he return to carry home his pot. And which is more, although he were a good bibber of wine (as I have oftentimes seen him drink, when his master has given it him) yet would he never touch it until leave was given him.” (Acosta, José de. Historia natural y moral de las Indias, etc. Sevilla, 1500. English version by Edward Grimston, Natural and moral historie of the East and West Indies. London, 1604, p. 315 [Reprinted 1880 by the Hakluyt Society, as its Volume LX]).
Nearly a century later, Pehr Osbeck’s Voyage to China was published in 1757 where he notes the keeping of monkeys as pets by the Javanese, and he states following statement: “It is said that the monkeys in China gather rhubarb and pound rice.” (Osbeck, Pehr. Ostindisk Resa til Suratte, China, etc. [1750-52]. Stockholm, 1757. English translation by John Reinhold Forster, A Voyage to China and the East Indies. London 1771, Vol. I, p. 152).
This was corroborated a century later through the recount of Robert Fortune, who was a collector in the East India Company and played a substantial part in establishing the tea industry in northern India.

He writes thus, “I have even heard it asserted (I forget whether by the Chinese or by others) that monkeys are employed for the same purpose [i.e. gathering tea leaves] and in the following manner:—These animals, it seems, do not like to work, and would not gather the leaves willingly; but when they are seen up amongst the rocks where the tea bushes are growing, the Chinese throw stones at them; the monkeys get very angry, and commence breaking off the branches of the tea-shrubs, which they throw down at their assailants! . . . I should not like to assert that no tea is gathered in these hills [of Woo-e-shan in the neighbourhood of Tsong-gan-hien] by the agency of monkeys, . . . but I think it may be safely affirmed that the quantity procured in such ways is exceedingly small.” (Fortune, Robert. A Journey to the Tea Districts of China, etc. London, 1852, p. 237, and Two Visits to the Tea Countries of China, etc. 2 vols. London, 1853, Vol. II, pp. 199–200)
Miss Isabella Bird was another well-known woman traveller, who illustrated in detail how humans have utilised monkeys for such resource extracting activities. She writes, “A follower had brought a ‘baboon,’ an ape or monkey trained to gather coconuts, a hideous beast on very long legs when on all fours, but capable of walking erect. They called him a ’dog-faced baboon,’ but they were wrong. He has a short, curved tail, sable-colored fur darkening down his back, and a most repulsive, treacherous, and ferocious countenance. He is fierce, but likes or at all events obeys his owner, who held him with a rope fifty feet long. At present he is only half tame, and would go back to the jungle if he were liberated. He was sent up a coconut tree which was heavily loaded with nuts in various stages of ripeness and unripeness, going up in surly fashion, looking round at intervals and shaking his chain angrily. When he got to the top he shook the fronds and stalks, but no nuts fell, and he chose a ripe one, and twisted it round and round till its tenacious fibers gave way, and then threw it down and began to descend, thinking he had done enough, but on being spoken to he went to work again with great vigor, picked out all the ripe nuts on the tree, twisted them all off, and then came down in a thoroughly bad, sulky temper. He was walking erect, and it seemed discourteous not to go and thank him for all his hard toil.” (Bird, Isabella. The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither, New York, 1883, p. 425)

Some years later, distinguished naturalist, Dr. Max Weber and his wife took a scientific their voyage to East Indies in 1899-1900 and described this unique association between humans and monkeys as, “In 1888, we lived there [at Manindjau in Sumatra] for a month in a Kampong house. Opposite us was a Malayan family which owned two Lampong, or Lapond, apes (Macacus nemestrinus), big, impudent beasts, which had been taught to pick coconuts. For this purpose, a band, to which a long rope was attached, was tied around the body of the ape, and then the animal was chased up into the tree. Arrived there, the ape seated himself on a branch and began to twist with his hands and feet one of the coconuts that hung under the branch, until the stem broke and the fruit fell down. If he dallied too long over his work, the strap around his body was jerked unsympathetically. How the ape knew which nuts he was to pick remained a puzzle to me, but a fruit never dropped that was not fully ripened.” (Weber-Van Bosse, Mrs. A. Ein Jahr an Bord I. M. S. Siboga, 1899–1900. Leipzig, 2nd edition, 1905, p. 229).
Such accounts of monkeys harvesting coconuts have also been vividly described by Italian explorer Odorado Beccari on his voyage to Borneo during 1865-68 (Beccari, Odoardo. Wanderings in the Great Forest of Borneo: Travels and Researches of a Naturalist in Sarawak [1865–68]. London, 1904, p. 30).

This interaction was also documented by Shelford later who writes, “Macacus nemestrinus, the pig-tailed Macaque, or Brok of the Malays, is a highly intelligent animal, and Malays train them to pick coconuts. The modus operandi is as follows:—A cord is fastened round the monkey’s waist, and it is led to a coconut palm which it rapidly climbs, it then lays hold of a nut, and if the owner judges the nut to be ripe for plucking he shouts to the monkey, which then twists the nut round and round till the stalk is broken and lets it fall to the ground; if the monkey catches hold of an unripe nut, the owner tugs the cord and the monkey tries another. I have seen a Brok act as a very efficient fruit-picker, although the use of the cord was dispensed with altogether, the monkey being guided by the tones and inflections of his master’s voice.” (Shelford, Robert W. C., A Naturalist in Borneo, London, 1916, p. 8).
Although the economic, transactional practices between two different species may seem to be unique, but such associations have been in practice in different corners of the world even before some religions were founded.
While monkeys have been either revered or disdained in certain cultures and narratives, but the coexistence of these simian bodies in human spaces since age old times is quite evident from available literature records.
The transactional nature of interactions between humans and monkeys in certain parts of the world and civilisations have been later crafted out of mutually beneficial ecologies, borne out of years of sharing spaces, entangling resources, lives and livelihoods that I will be discussing in the next chapter.

Kaustabh Baruah is a Doctoral student studying nonhuman primate behaviour and social cognition, specially focusing on the socio-ecological influences on the origins and evolution of cooperative cultures in primate societies. He is also Scotland correspondent of Mahabahu.
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