One of the things I most want to see someday are the snow monkeys living in Japan. If you haven’t heard of the Japanese Macaque, you’re in for a great surprise. These monkeys are… shall we say… very “human” in a couple of ways. That, and they’re totally weird.
The “Snow Monkeys” of Japan live in the mountains of Honshu (that’s the main island), and can survive in very cold temperatures of 5 degrees fahrenheit (-15 degrees celsius). Luckily, they fairly recently discovered that they can spend time in natural hot springs to keep nice and warm.
The really interesting thing about their “chillin’ out in hot springs” lifestyle is that it didn’t happen until fairly recently. There are several things they’ve done that show how smart they are, and even pass these behaviors on to the next generation.
- It was only in 1963 that the Japanese Snow Monkeys started going into the hot springs. A young female monkey went into one of the hot springs to get some soybeans that were thrown in there, liked how it felt, and soon other monkeys joined in. The funny part is that only the younger generations of monkeys did this at first, and the old (“darn those youngin’s”) resisted as long as they could. Now you’ll see all the monkey’s hanging out in the hot springs.
- Another thing they’ve learned is how to roll snowballs. Of course, the next step will be to learn how to throw them at the perverted tourists trying to take naked pictures of bathing monkeys.
- In another area of Japan (Kagoshima), one Japanese monkey started washing potatoes. She figured out that she could get the dirt off by dipping it in the water (rather than brushing it off with her hands), and this caught on with the rest of the troop as well. Even better, they figured out that by washing their potatoes in the ocean water, it was tastier from the sea salt.
- The same potato washing monkey also discovered how to was wheat. She’d make a ball of wheat and sand and throw it into the water. The wheat would float to the top and the sand would sink to the bottom, giving her sandless wheat to eat. (source)
If you want to see the Snow Monkeys in action, check out the livecam – if you catch it at the right time (i.e. right when this post was posted) you can see a ton of monkeys hanging out talking to some tourists.
Visiting The Snow Monkeys In Japan
If you did decide to visit the snow monkeys in Japan, just know that there seems to be a ton of other things to do in the area as well (especially if you love hot baths and certain winter sports). To get to the snow monkeys, you’ll want to go up to Jigokudani (Hell’s Valley), in Nagano. Other neat things in the area include several great onsens (Japanese bath house) and ski / snowboarding resorts.
Someday I’ll definitely be heading up here. I don’t know what it is about monkeys, but they’re just so fascinating. Even the obese, fed-too-much-by-tourists monkeys in Osaka seem pretty neat. Were they being fed KFC?
Anyways, if you’re as smart as a monkey, you should follow Tofugu on Twitter.