Morocco's Macaques: Taming the wild
“The tallest waterfall in North Africa” may not seem like much of a boast in a region most famous for its distinct lack of water, but Ouzoud is a spectacle in more than just scale. But is it for the right reasons?
Ouzoud Cascades viewed from up high. © Matthew Walsh / Finding Earth
It’s forty Celsius in the early June sun. Even the shade and spray of the cascades does little to abate the heat. Yet among the tourist paths and olive trees, the great gorge bears residents that look more suited to a winter much further north. Locals call them Barbary Apes, although they’re not actually apes at all, but rather the only species of macaque monkey found beyond the Asian continent. Almost every tree in this semi-montane oasis is fruiting and every leaf green with the summer, and almost every yellowish-brown monkey has its eye somewhere else. A mother, young clasped tight between her left arm and chest, hobbles clumsily behind a rattling packet of peanuts. A pack of tourists approaches and triggers an olive-toned hand to dive into the plastic packaging. He crunches the shells and sprinkles them on a now surprised looking tourist’s shoulder. Almost without time to react, the peanut shells are joined by a macaque who begins to demolish the newly provided glut. Strangely, the local guide supervising the group chooses to shoo away the man handing out peanuts and not the monkey invading his tour group. He explains it’s a well-known scam in which tourists are subject to an up-close-and-personal wildlife experience, unsolicited as it is, and then persuaded into parting with a few Dirham for the pleasure. This may not seem much of an issue from an outside perspective until those same tourists recover from the initial shock of a sudden macaque invasion and begin to dig into their bags for junk snacks to encourage their not-so-genetically-distant cousins further. The peanut shells may be seen as a light treat but a tourist’s crisps and sweets are as unhealthy for wildlife as they are for humans.
A hungry pair wait for their treats. © Matthew Walsh / Finding Earth
Wild animals are subject to a regular cost-benefit analysis in their natural habitats, meaning they will instinctively perform actions that convey the greatest benefit at the lowest energetic cost. Similar to how most people will sooner visit a market than forage through the undergrowth for food, it’s the simplest way of packing the calories without much detriment to themselves. From this it’s clear to see why a hungry macaque would rather follow a local man and scrounge from tourists for a quick calorie-dense meal than spend hours picking olives and leaves. This newly adopted and more sedentary lifestyle, however, can wreak havoc on the status-quo of Moroccan monkey life. A bountiful supply of junk-food can lead to health complications similar to those in humans such as weight gain and dental problems, which can become increasingly serious in a species with no access to a doctor or dentist. Animal populations boom in the presence of bountiful supplies of food and water, you only have to look at humans as the prime example of this and yet, barbary macaques are territorial.
Ouzoud is a finite oasis, beyond which the scorched red landscapes become relatively inhospitable, and with no ability to industrially modify this environment to suit them, aggressive disputes over hospitable land increase. Aggression, however, is hardly exclusive to other macaques, with some individuals becoming bold with their new human feeders as a result of reduced natural fear.
A mother and baby wait patiently by the tourist paths. © Matthew Walsh / Finding Earth
Primates are observational learners, with a child seeing its mother take from a tourist’s hand imprinting on them to associate humans with a quick fix, but a quick fix that could take generations to be weaned from a population should the tourists stop coming. And so, what may be a quick wildlife interaction could contribute to a much greater issue. Although these issues may seem a patch on the quite shocking abuse of the same monkeys in Marrakech, with many seen on leashes to be flaunted for tourist photographs which, gladly, seem to be lowering in popularity, they can still be seen as a stepping stone to such abuses. Wildlife experiences are always and should always be a draw to see new parts of the world, but unethical practices, however innocent they may seem, are never unavoidable.
Ouzoud is a truly magnificent place, with powerful white-water gushing from on high, beautiful olive groves, weather to be loved by virtually any traveller, and, not to be forgotten, some awestriking wildlife sights. A spot on the globe such as this does really posit the question though, shouldn’t wildlife being truly wild be enough?
