Not what I expected in Morocco
Forest road in the mountains near Ifrane, Morocco
This is certainly not the typical scene I expected to see while on a visit to Morocco. Our tour took us up into a mountainous area near the ski resort of Ifrane. The forest area was beautiful, not unlike that in the Adelaide Hills here in South Australia, or the area around Mt Macedon north of Melbourne – or perhaps even the Katoomba area in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
The main reason our tour took us to this area was to see the monkeys that are resident in this forest.
We didn’t see the monkeys – but the scenery mostly made up for our disappointment.
For those who are interested, the animal in question is the Barbary macaque which is found in various habitats in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria. A small population of unknown origin can be found at Gibraltar, the only wild population of monkeys in Europe. You can read more here.
Mueller’s Gibbon, Taronga Zoo, Sydney
Mueller's Gibbon, Taronga Zoo, Sydney
Mueller’s Bornean Gibbon is one of the smallest of the smallest gibbons.It can be found on the island of Borneo where it is endemic. They are arboreal feeders, primarily fruits of the rainforest. They are diurnal (active during the day) and their early morning calls are loud and piercing. They have very long arms which enable them to swing easily from branch to branch as they move through the rainforest.
We saw these Gibbons during our visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney last year. At the bottom of this post I have included a photo of the sign accompanying this display. I frequently do this to remind me of the particular species I have photographed, especially of those animals or birds with which I am not all that familiar.
Mueller's Gibbon, Taronga Zoo, Sydney
Mueller's Gibbon, Taronga Zoo, Sydney