Training Macaque’s: Padangpariaman, Sumatra, Indonesia

By Barrie | December 27th, 2006 | No Comments

One thing that fascinates me are the trained monkeys that climb trees to fetch coconuts. Besides being entertaining, they are actually quite an intelligent species.

I never realised there was so much involved in training these little buggas!. Recently in the JP, Syofiardi Bachyul Jb wrote a fabulous article about these monkeys.

No monkeying around when it comes to coconuts
Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang

Macaques, the gray-brown monkeys locally called beruk, have long been the friends of people living in Padangpariaman regency, West Sumatra.

In this coastal area, where the palms soar to heights of more than 20 meters, people pick coconuts by getting macaques to do the job.

The nuts, meanwhile, are used for cooking, drinks and copra, the regency’s main commodity, which also makes the primate an economic resource.

But before monkeys can pick coconuts, they have to be trained. More than 200 men in the regency are engaged in this profession, each carrying one or more of the animals on his motorbike along village paths for the service.

Fifty-year-old Amiruddin, who has trained monkeys since childhood in Koto village, now raises two four-year-old macaques from the Pasaman forest that he bought for Rp 1.2 million each when they were a year old. “I trained them for eight months in picking, three times a day with each session each lasting for five to eight minutes,” said at the Macaque Climbing Festival in Ulakan, Padangpariaman, last month.

Tutelage, he says, starts simple and gets progressively difficult. A ripe coconut is put on a bamboo pole two meters high and a monkey is trained to take it. Then it is taught to climb a short coconut palm and told to drop young fruits by the trainer’s shouts of “muda, muda!” (young), or “tua, tua for ripe ones.

During this time, the monkey is connected to the trainer with a long rope leash tied to its neck. While also trained to leap from one tree to another, its skill is measured by the ability to pick nuts as ordered.

Amiruddin has so far taught almost 500 monkeys. He buys new ones to replace the those who die of old age instead of breeding them because female macaques lose their skill after delivery. With proper care, he says, these primates can reach the age of 18.

“Monkeys should receive loving care and be bathed once daily. They also get a diet of eggs, besides multivitamins and milk weekly, but I never give them fish, meat or chicken so that they don’t get into the habit of demanding the expensive food,” reveals Amiruddin, whose father is also a macaque owner.

By using their hands, feet and mouths, his agile monkeys can pick 1,200 coconuts daily, for which he is paid Rp 4,000 to 5,000 per 100 nuts. But as orders to collect thousands of coconuts do not come often, Amiruddin also sells them to increase his income. He earns Rp 20,000 daily on average or from Rp 50,000 to Rp 200,000 when receiving big orders.

With his monkeys ready to serve him, the father of 16 with two wives can afford to support his big family and send his children to high school. “There are around 30 macaque owners in Ulakan but not all the monkeys are smart and tame. My monkeys can pick ripe and young nuts, remove old palm leaves and even pluck jengkol, petai (smelly beans) and betel nuts,” he said.

Another primate trainer, Buyung Syamsir, 55, has six monkeys to make a living. “Like raising children, monkeys also need love and a scolding for making mistakes,” he said. His macaques also have an ability — to pick lice from people’s heads, he says, grinning.

Padangpariaman Regent Muslim Kasim says the communities of coconut-picking monkeys are a unique feature of the regency and thinks the practice should be developed to encourage tourism.

“In Hawaii, I witnessed trained monkeys climbing coconut trees and tourists paying US$1 each to watch. We hope the same thing can be done here so that the income of professional monkey owners will increase,” he said at the opening of the festival.

Some 20 macaques and their trainers took part in the festival, which offered a goat as its top prize and was organized by the regency’s tourism office and the West Sumatra branch of state electricity company PLN.

“This festival is meant to develop the monkey’s skills as part of West Sumatra’s tourism program,” organizing committee chief Basril Basyar said.