By Dawn P Mills

In St. Kitts and Nevis we are privileged – or not – to share our beautiful landscape with the vervet or green monkey which lives in very few other places in the world. Here in our land of beauty, these creatures have been so prolific, that over the years they have multiplied to the point that they now outstrip our local human population. In fact, they seem to be somewhat in charge since they have commandeered our fruit trees and crops, leaving us many times to settle for the scraps they refuse.

It’s widely known and accepted that the monkey is a very intelligent animal, and evolutionists would have us believe that man actually descended from apes. I have heard many stories of the behaviours of these creatures that suggest that man and monkey may perhaps be closely related. Well I don’t know about that, but I can assure you that neither barbecued, jerked nor curried monkey will be on my menu anytime soon.

I’ve heard of monkeys playing Ring o’ Rosies – holding hands and dancing in a circle on a grassy mound by the light of the moon in Frigate Bay. I’ve heard of a monkey washing gravy from its hands in a bowl of water put out for a dog, after he had eaten the dog’s dinner. I’ve heard of a mother monk standing in front of her baby to prevent a hunter from shooting it to death. So at play, in hygiene and in protection of young, the monkey certainly seems to be like the man.

But while we humans tend to accept some relation to the simian (or monkey type), the monkeys themselves seem to be skeptical of any such link. Here’s a poem that attests to that – it’s called “Three Monkeys Agree ‘Tis Man’s Disgrace”:

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree discussing things as they’re said to be
Said one to the others, “Now listen you two, there’s a rumor around that cannot be true.
That man descended from our noble race – the very idea is a shocking disgrace.”
“No monkey has ever deserted his wife, starved her babies and ruined her life
And you’ve never known a mother monk to leave her babies with others to bunk
Or pass from one on to another till they scarcely knew who was their mother.
Here’s another thing a monkey won’t do, go out at night and get in a stew
Or use a gun or club or knife to take some other monkey’s life
Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss – But brother he didn’t descend from us!

So there you have it! The monkeys are denying any relation to us because our own behaviours are not normal for monkeys, and are in fact disgraceful and embarrassing to them. And in case you’re wondering, an ornery cuss is a bad-tempered, combative, stubborn, annoying person.

But wait, in recent times, I’ve also heard about monkeys that terrorise farmers by destroying their entire crops just days before they are to be reaped. And I’ve heard of monkeys that took all a man’s laundry from his clothesline and dropped them to the ground in retaliation for him picking his bananas before they could get any. Then there were the monkeys that picked and dropped all the green golden apples to the ground because the owner picked all the ripe ones before they could get at them. And what about those monkeys at Turtle Beach that drink alcohol from plastic cups right at the bar? Now aren’t these monkeys beginning to sound like people we know? Yet we give them a bad name!

All these misdemeanors, malice, bad-mindedness, thievery and alcoholism of the once noble creatures bear witness to the old saying “monkey see – monkey do”! Yes, we have managed to corrupt the monkey, and they are now adopting the bad behaviours they see in us which we seem to have accepted as the norm. Have we no shame?

My friends, let’s be mindful of our own behaviours, and think twice before we do things that we ourselves would consider unbecoming even for monkeys. It’s time for us to stop behaving like animals and start being caring, principled beings again. In that way, whatever monkey see and monkey do would be fine for all concerned.

Keywords: St. Kitts and Nevis, Monkey, vervet, population, behaviours, animals, caring, principled,

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