Golden rhesus?

J

Jurek7

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Anybody knows anything about a golden colour mutation of rhesus monkey? Can I see pictures of them anywhere?

It was briefly mentioned in old Frankfurt Zoo guidebook. I also saw some performing macaques in China which were golden, but at the time I thought they were dyed to make them more attractive.
 
I did a quick google search and nothing came up for golden/ xanthistic/ leucistic/ or albino for rhesus monkeys....
 
Frankfurt Zoo did indeed have a colony of Golden-coloured Rhesus Monkeys during the 1960/70's on one of two circular 'monkey rocks' at the zoo (the other had a Hamadryas baboon colony) They had presumably been bred from 'sports' in a normal rhesus colony and then selectively bred until breeding true-as none of the monkeys(50-80) in the colony were normal brown colour. I also noticed the golden yellow coats had a curious metallic sheen to them.

More recently I discovered that when Frankfurt disbanded this colony (date unknown), the last 5 (or 7?) were sent to Thrigby Hall Zoo in Norfolk(UK), where I saw the very last one about eight years ago. Close to this adult male had a pale buffish coat with no apparent shine to it.
 
Interesting, Pertinax!

In Emei Shan, China in 1997, local people had ca. 10 performing young macaques on leashes. Some were obviously subadult local Tibetan Macaques. Others were golden and had intense and unnatural looking metallic shine, not found on normal macaques. At the time I thought that owners perhaps dyed them with hairdressers dye to resemble snub-nosed monkeys.

I later read Frankfurt guidebook and wonder if I could have seen natural golden mutation of rhesus? :rolleyes:
 
Jurek7 said:
Others were golden and had intense and unnatural looking metallic shine, not found on normal macaques.

I later read Frankfurt guidebook and wonder if I could have seen natural golden mutation of rhesus? :rolleyes:
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Interesting that we both remember this same metallic shine- so I would think you also saw the same 'golden' mutation of rhesus monkey (or was it maybe in your case another macaque species?). I presume at Frankfurt it cropped up among normal rhesus and by allowing the Goldens to breed over a period of time and then slowly removing all the normals too, eventually the whole colony became this colour.

It would be interesting to know when they first appeared in Frankfurt's colony.

I took a photo of the last one at Thrigby and will try and find it.
 
I think I have photos of one or two of the monkeys at Frankfurt. I don't remember a sheen on the coat, but I think they had paler pink faces than the others. I'll have to search my slide collection again ;)

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
I think I have photos of one or two of the monkeys at Frankfurt. I don't remember a sheen on the coat, but I think they had paler pink faces than the others. I'll have to search my slide collection again ;)

Alan
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Do you remember them as a mixture of Golden and Normal coloureds? Maybe I was wrong in my recollections of an 'all-golden' group- it was a very long time ago!

The last survivor at Thrigby had a pale face/skin- its presumably rather similar to a leucistic colour phase.
 
Pertinax said:
Do you remember them as a mixture of Golden and Normal coloureds? Maybe I was wrong in my recollections of an 'all-golden' group- it was a very long time ago!
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As I recall, I visited Frankfurt in 1973, and there were 3 or 4 golden monkeys (females and immatures) in a group of around 20 animals. But I can't be certain of that.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
As I recall, I visited Frankfurt in 1973, and there were 3 or 4 golden monkeys (females and immatures) in a group of around 20 animals. But I can't be certain of that.

Alan
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I visited in 1969, 1970 and again about 1977. I seem to remember a larger group of rhesus and a number of goldens among them, but probably not all as I thought earlier. I think the last ones that went to Thrigby from this group were all golden - maybe there was a high % of this colour by then.

Frankfurt was a very prestigious zoo in those days, it doesn't seem to rank quite so highly now.
 
The international fame of Frankfurt Zoo is, or rather was, closely connected to one man: the late Bernard Grzimek, whose charismatic showman-attitude helped to build up the zoo after WW2, made the zoo famous and the acquisition of very rare species possible.
Yet due to missing such a leading figure, an obvious lack of space due to its urban setting, financial neglect by the city counsil and recent "media-effective" staff changes, the zoo has experienced a decrease of visitor attendance and a more or less slight downfall from its former glory, even though the staff and the collection are still top-notch. Let"s hope the new building projects and the new exhibits like the new Ape House will improve the situation for this remarkable zoo.

I have an old primate book where the origin of Frankfurt's Golden Rhesus Monkeys was mentioned. Let's see whether I can find it...
 
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Sun Wukong said:
the zoo has experienced a decrease of visitor attendance and a more or less slight downfall from its former glory, even though the staff and the collection are still top-notch.

I have an old primate book where the origin of Frankfurt's Golden Rhesus Monkeys was mentioned. Let's see whether I can find it...
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A not dissimilar situation to Jersey Zoo then, despite Frankfurt being a much bigger collection..

Golden rhesus- any information on their history would be very interesting- particularly approximately when this colour first appeared.
 
You're correct regarding the comparison to Jersey, Pertinax. However, I think that in Jersey the shift of tourism, away from the too expensive island, is another disadvantage.

I will try to find that book-but unfortunately, this might take a while as I am currently moving.
 
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Sun Wukong said:
You're corrcet regarding the comparison to Jersy, Pertinax. However, I think that in Jersy the shift of tourism away from the too expensive island is another diadvantage.
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Agreed. Jersey has always been expensive to get to and it hasn't got anymore accessible/cheaper over time either. The visitors to Jersey zoo are noticeably different to most zoos- less children and families, more old folks and young couples...
 
Golden rhesus macaques at Frankfurt

I visited Frankfurt summer 1978 - my only visit . I well remember the monkey rock and being impressed by the golden monkeys . I think most were golden . Somewhere in the loft I probably have an English language guidebook dating from the visit , I have so many old zoo papers .
 
Bele said:
I visited Frankfurt summer 1978 - my only visit . I well remember the monkey rock and being impressed by the golden monkeys . I think most were golden .
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Now I'm interested to know when the colony was disbanded. I never asked at Thrigby when the last ones arrived there.
 
I visited Frankfurt in late 70's/early 80's and the troop of rhesus macaques (about 20 I would guess) was entirely golden with no normal coloured animals.
 
Pygathrix said:
I visited Frankfurt in late 70's/early 80's and the troop of rhesus macaques (about 20 I would guess) was entirely golden with no normal coloured animals.
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...and I think when I first went -1969- the colony was a lot bigger but only some were golden.
 
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