Barbary Macaques

Monkeys are evil.

They're wild animals. No more evil than a fox or a wolf. I like them. I leave them alone and they leave me alone. Sometimes I sit and watch them munching young shoots and they completely ignore me. Not for touching; they bite (savagely)!

@Eric Rose The monkeys are our last line of defence against invaders and have been British for at least 300 years. Look closely at the near one and you will see the same kind of bored, slightly superior expression that the Macaques have adopted from rubbing shoulders with our British Civil Service. As a fellow Brit, I claim to be his uncle.

It's a lovely shot

@pentaxuser Thank you. Haha. Yes that one does have a tremendous expression. The enormous new carrier Queen Elizabeth is alongside in Gibraltar at the moment. I think it will be difficult to tell macaque from matelot on Main Street tonight. No doubt the sailors will try to drink Gib dry. Thank goodness I'm not there!

Way cool. Gibraltar is one of the weirdest places on earth.

They aren't monkeys Eric they are usually referred to as "rock apes"

@benjiboy Actually they are monkeys, classed as "Old World Monkeys". Properly called the Barbary Macaque but also known as the Barbary Ape. The only species of macaque outside Asia.

We made a port visit there way back in the dark ages of 1990. Pretty much my favorite port visit while we were deployed to the Med.
One of my shipmates managed to get himself bit by one of the rock apes. We tried to find which one did it so we could give him a medal.

@pbromaghin @Larry the sailor Yes Gibraltar is a very strange place. Loved by some; hated by others. A wonder of the ancient world and a magnificent place to be up in the nature reserve. A tiny place, quirky and could become very claustrophobic. I'm there 4 times a year and I love it even thought it's mostly work. There's usually time for a hike up the Rock, some photographs and several nights (er...every night) out in the various drinking dens of Main Street e.g. The Horseshoe aka "The Donkey's Flip-Flop"; The Angry Friar aka "The Mad Monk" (navy frequented pubs usually have another name e.g The White Swan in Portsmouth aka "The Muddy Duck"). I've been going to Gib for years now, I don't know how many trips that adds up to. Another essential is the "Tapas Run" over the border to Spain (walking distance) that usually starts in gin bars and ends up messy.

Been way too many years for me to remember the names of the pubs I visited, Of course after a long night in the pubs I probably wouldn't have remembered them the next day.