Hakuna Matata – Spotlight on Timon
By Breanne Cyr, Primate Behavior Specialist
As a child who grew up obsessed with the movie The Lion King, I can’t help but compare our Timon/Batman monkey duo to the famous Timon/Pumba warthog/meerkat duo – only reverse each character’s role. If you are familiar with the movie, you know that Timon is comical, outgoing, outspoken (in a good way!), and tends to be a leader – similar to Batman the monkey. His close pal, Pumba, is Timon’s loyal friend, partner in crime, and goofy, slightly self-conscious sidekick – similar to Timon the monkey. Timon and Batman are a happily bonded unit; where you see one, you’ll often see the other.
However, this is monkey Timon’s story, so let’s give him the spotlight! Timon is a rhesus monkey who arrived to Primates Inc sanctuary from a laboratory in May 2018, not long after he turned 9 years old. He was a shy and submissive monkey, though he would reliably stick around Batman to co-aggress at his neighbors if the duo deemed them to be unruly. Nearly seven years later, now 16 years old, Timon remains a submissive monkey as is characteristic in rhesus monkey hierarchies. However, he has gained significantly more confidence and comfort in his surroundings and in interacting with caregivers and other monkeys. He is not shy to ask us for food, and will comically get very excited at meal times, often jumping up to human arm level to receive his food as efficiently as possible. At meal times, Timon grabs food and fills his cheek pouches to the brim, effectively reserving his own food portion before the more dominant Batman might come to get it.
Timon loves to do positive reinforcement training (PRT) and has quickly caught on during his training. This helps train him for any interventions that he may need for routine medical care. In fact, he is now so eager to sit on the scale to be weighed, that sometimes we have to work on waiting until the scale is ready for him!
Timon is also a master of foraging – if anyone were to lose a nut in the haystack, Timon would be the guy to find it. He spends a lot of time thoroughly foraging through the substrates of each of his enclosures (indoors, greenhouse, and outdoors). He also thrives on grooming with Batman, and the duo can be seen grooming multiple times each day. Timon is particularly thorough with his grooming, splitting each of Batman’s hairs and eagerly getting into every nook and cranny along his skin. In his downtime, Timon likes to spend time relaxing on high branches in his enclosure, observing and taking in nature, or catching a nice midday nap.
If Timon were to describe sanctuary life, I think he’d say something like “Hakuna Matata: It means no worries for the rest of your days!”
