Japanese Macaques Move Into New Exhibit At Lincoln Park Zoo
(CBS) -- Monkeys you've seen pictured in hot springs with snow on their heads have moved into Lincoln Park Zoo.
The troop of eight Japanese macaques will be meeting the public starting May 1, and were introduced to the news media Wednesday morning in the new Regenstein macaque Forest which includes 10 of 20-foot tall tree replicas with multiple climbing branches, grass, rocks, a waterfall and pool heated to 90 degrees, as well as a Japanese snow lantern.
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Mammal Curator Maureen Leahy says she had apples and broccoli hidden throughout the exhibit to encourage roaming by the five females and three males.
She says the diet is varied daily and rotated on a monthly basis for the eight Japanese macaques whom she says eat up to 200 different vegetable species in their native Japan, each in their own way.
"There are some food items that they will eat certain parts first and leave the peels for later, for example," she said.
The first one into the heated pool was Ono, a nine-year-old female who dipped first her fingers, then a hand, and finally eased all the way into the heated water where she felt around for hidden snacks.
Leahy says the Japanese macaques like cold weather and will be cooled by fans during the summer. She says she's hoping visitors will show up after a heavy snow fall to see if they can see macaques at play -- which reportedly includes making snow balls.
Leahy says the macaques will be doing some work in their new home where scientists will be setting up touch screens to test how the Japanese snow monkeys order symbols, in an effort to learn how they gather information about the world about them.
The macaques are brown, averaging about 25 pounds for males, 13 pounds for females, though Leahy points out it's the females that call the shots in a troop of snow monkeys.
