Affenberg Salem, Monkey park in Salem, Germany
Affenberg Salem is a wooded enclosure of more than 20 hectares west of Salem in the Bodenseekreis, home to just under 200 Barbary macaques that move freely among visitors. There are no separating bars or ditches; visitors walk on fixed paths through the near-natural forest. The site also holds a free-flying white stork colony breeding on the roofs of the Mendlishauser Hof, a fallow deer herd and a large pond.
Baron Gilbert de Turckheim, from Alsace, opened his first monkey enclosure in Kintzheim in 1969 and a second in Rocamadour in 1974; the Salem park followed in 1976 on land leased from Salem Palace. In 1978 the park founded its stork station, and reintroduced breeding pairs established a free-flying colony of around 90 white storks that nests on the roofs of the Mendlishauser Hof. Zoologist Roland Hilgartner has directed the park since 2006.
The park's name refers to its monkey mountain, and since 2020 visitors can no longer feed popcorn to begging macaques; observation of natural behaviour is the focus. Moderated feedings and an interactive information system explain the macaques, the white storks and the fallow deer.
The park opens from March to November, offering admission for adults and children aged five and older. Visitors can follow paths through the forest and observe the monkeys up close at certain feeding stations.
The park's research reputation is substantial: roughly half of what is known about Barbary macaques comes from studies here, in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, the University of Zurich and the German Primate Center in Göttingen. An alpha male typically holds his rank for two to five years.
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