This is an attempt to list every species on exhibit at Monkey Jungle in Miami, Florida during my visit on 3-16-19. I am including species for which there is a sign on each exhibit, and touring the exhibits in a roughly clockwise direction from the zoo entrance. Most of the exhibits are quite bare and basic except where noted. Small-sized wood-and-wire cage: Hyacinth Macaw Small-sized wood-and-wire cage: Southern Two-toed Sloth Parrot (unsigned and unidentified) 'Wild Monkey Swimming Pool': This lush enclosure is the largest exhibit and one of the 3 star attractions; it is several acres in size and the extent of it cannot be observed from the visitor areas. Visitors are confined to long tunnels enclosed with wood frames and heavy wire mesh while the inhabitants are free to explore and climb up on top of the tunnels. The reason they like to be on top of the tunnels is for visitor feeding. Visitors can purchase boxes of 'Craisins' treats and dole them out into small metal cups suspended on long chains from the roof. Once some treats are placed in a cup, a monkey can lift the chain and cup up to a small hole in the roof that is large enough for a monkey arm to reach the treats! The tunnels are adjacent to some of the smaller exhibits interspersed that follow. One section of the visitor area is not enclosed in mesh, and that is the Wild Monkey Swimming Pool which is observed from a long viewing shelter with benches for watching the several daily presentations where keepers disperse fruit to the edge and into a medium-sized pond for the monkeys to demonstrate their swimming ability. The pond is contained on one side by the visitor shelter so the railing is hot-wired to prevent escape. The inhabitants are a large population of: Java Macaque Koi Wild Monkey Swimming Pool (Java Macaque Exhibit) - Pool by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM Wild Monkey Swimming Pool (Java Macaque Exhibit) by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM Wild Monkey Swimming Pool (Java Macaque Exhibit) - Visitor Tunnel by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM Wild Monkey Swimming Pool (Java Macaque Exhibit) - Treat Cup on Chain for Feeding by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM Medium-sized wire cage with PVC pipe for visitors to feed treats to: White Handed Gibbon 2 medium-sized wire cages with PVC pipe for visitors to feed treats to: Brown Headed Spider Monkey Medium-sized wire cage with PVC pipe for visitors to feed treats to: Diana Monkey Medium-sized tall wood-and-wire exhibit: Mandrill Mandrill Exhibit by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM 'Cameroon Jungle': This lush 1-acre dry-moated yard is adjacent to an empty concrete grotto wall on one side; the grotto with very strange simulated concrete tree branches appears to have been a horrible exhibit at one time. The yard itself has an adjacent small seating shelter for visitors to watch several daily keeper presentations about the inhabitant, a single male named 'King' who is a: Western Lowland Gorilla Cameroon Jungle (Gorilla Exhibit) - Viewing Area, Dry Moat, Exhibit Beyond by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM Medium-sized wire cage with PVC pipe for visitors to feed treats to: Diana Monkey 'Amazonian Rainforest': This lush enclosure is one of the 3 star attractions; it is several acres in size and the extent of it cannot be observed from the visitor areas. Visitors are confined to long tunnels enclosed with wood frames and heavy wire mesh while the inhabitants are free to explore and climb up on top of the tunnels. Visitor presentations with keepers are held here several times a day, and visitors can opt to take a 45 minute guided tour inside the enclosure for an upcharge to get unobstructed views of the inhabitants: Black-capped Capuchin Squirrel Monkey Amazonian Rainforest (Black-capped Capuchin and Squirrel Monkey Exhibit) - Visitor Tunnel by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM Small-sized wire cage: Red Handed Tamarin Small-sized wire cage: Empty Small-sized wire cage: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Medium-sized tall wood-and-wire exhibit: Coppery Titi Coppery Titi Exhibit by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM 'Parrot Domes': These 4 exhibits are small-sized geodesic dome wire cages on low block wall bases, containing 1 species each: Parrot (unsigned and unidentified) Parrot (unsigned and unidentified) Parrot (unsigned and unidentified) Queen of Bavaria Conure Small-sized yard contained with a low rock wall: Sulcata Tortoise 'Macaw Dome', a medium-sized geodesic dome wire cage: Unsigned Small-sized yard contained with a low rock wall: Rhinoceros Iguana Small-sized geodesic dome wire cage on low block wall base: African Grey Parrot Small-sized wood-and-wire exhibit: Golden Lion Tamarin Golden Lion Tamarin Exhibit by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM Medium-sized wood-and-wire exhibit: Empty Small-sized rock-walled yard with multiple viewing windows: Southern Two-toed Sloth Turtle (unsigned and unidentified) Southern Two-toed Sloth Exhibit by geomorph posted 9 May 2019 at 6:33 PM Small-sized wire cage: Moluccan Cockatoo
What was your overall impression of Monkey Jungle? It looks like it has a couple of basic good exhibits and some that are roadside zoo-level bad.
Yes it was mostly roadside level exhibits, and the larger habitats were wonderful but frustrating to mostly view through thick mesh. It was a lot of fun to feed the monkeys though, they would wait by the cups with chains and once you started dropping Craisins in they would sometimes start pulling them up impatiently before you were finished dropping the treats in the cup!
Unfortunately they did not swim for me at the presentation I went to, which was the last one of the day. However I was thrilled to see them unobstructed at the swimming pool viewing area, I had not seen the Java macaque before.
I don’t have photos of the mystery birds, although I remember one was probably a yellow-headed Amazon.
I forgot to attach my usual summary entry, here it is: SUMMARY: By my count, the total number of exhibits currently at Monkey Jungle is: 27 By my count, the total number of species in permanent exhibits with identification signs is: 20 The number of species I counted can be broken down into the following categories: Mammals: 12 Birds: 5 Reptiles: 2 Amphibians: 0 Fish: 1 Invertebrates: 0
Thanks for all of your information in regards to Monkey Jungle. I am surprised at how little is on display there and it seems as if the animal collection has depleted over the years. How long did you spend at this small zoo?
The empty concrete grotto with concrete tree branches up until recently had housed a female orangutan (a hybrid, I believe). And when I first visited the park in 2007 they still had 2 or 3 red howlers (in the Amazonian rainforest habitat, together with squirrel monkeys and capuchins), and a woolly monkey in one of the cages next to gibbons and spider monkeys). I believe another of those cages had housed guerezas.
In the more distant past the collection was even more diverse. They were, as far as I know, the first place in the world to breed red uakaris.
I was there about 2 hours, which was more than enough time, but was determined to make the ride sharing cost from the heart of Miami worth it. Interacting with the Java macaques and brown headed spider monkeys and white-handed gibbons was the best part.
There were no signs for red howlers, but their website still has a section on 'howler monkeys' on the page about the Amazonian Rainforest. I certainly did not spot any!
