Kevin’s Monkey of the Week

My name is Kevin Shaughnessy and I love monkeys. The gentle squirrel monkey, as he used to be commonly known, is a member of the Saimiri genus within the Cebidae family of primates. Besides their friendly demeanor, they used to be most renowned for their oversized occipital lobe that was devoted to auditory processing, resulting in a complex vocalization system. They’re just like people! Unfortunately, they are more infamous now for their role in the Serbian-Croation war, when they became known as “mine monkeys”. Serbians used them to hunt for land mines by letting them loose in the dangerous “killing fields” of Western Slavonia during the early 90’s. They quickly became an endangered species, and a relief organization was organized to save them, of which I am a member. Fortunately, 20 million squirrel monkeys were found living in the Bolivian jungles a few years ago. My name is Kevin Shaughnessy and I love monkeys.