Nur, coming back home
I would like to use these photos to narrate Nur’s story. Nur was abandoned at birth by her mother, a young and inexperienced female belonging to a group of Tonkean macaques. Initially Nur was hand-reared with a bottle and a monkey soft toy to replace her mother. Her reintroduction into the group was long and gradual. From the beginning, Nur was constantly in sight of the other macaques outside their enclosure. She was then reunited with the youngest female of the group, her mother, who despite being unaware of their kinship, was immediately very friendly towards her. The other females in the group were not introduced until a strong bond had developed between Nur and her mother. After several months, when Nur was fully integrated into the group of females, the males were gradually reintroduced. The reintegration of a baby monkey into a group is a long and difficult process, as adults with powerful canines can fatally attack the infant at any time. It is therefore a great success that about a year and a half after her birth, Nur was fully integrated into her original group.
