Europe’s last wild Barbary macaques have Moroccan and Algerian ancestors

They are the last wild monkeys living in Europe, most precisely on the British overseas territory. In fact, Gibraltar is home to around 200 Barbary macaques, a species found mostly in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria.

Explanations differ on how these wild animals, who prefer to live in warm cedar forests, made it to the European rock. In an article published Monday, American science magazine Atlas Obscura tracked down the story of these mammals.

Barbary macaques' population in Gibraltar is the only such population that lives outside North Africa. According to the science magazine, this could be related to the «most recent Ice Age», when Europe was a warmer location for these species.

Robert Martin, the director of the Anthropological Institute at the University of Zurich, told the online magazine that Gibraltar’s macaques «were probably the last primates to hang on in Europe».

Imported from Morocco and Algeria for political reasons

However, the story of these monkeys involves another typical «British Eccentricity». The legend says that the peninsula, which used to belong to Spain before it was ceded to the British in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, will «remain under the British control as long as there are macaques in it».

Historical accounts suggest that during World War II, during which the number of the monkeys living in the rock dropped dramatically, former British Prime Minister and war hero Winston Churchill, secretively, imported macaques from North Africa to spite the Germans.

«The received wisdom was that virtually extinct during World War II, maybe two left, and that they were too old to breed», explained Martin.

In addition to the records and legends, DNA testing revealed that the imported macaques in Gibraltar were decendants of both Moroccan and Algerian monkey populations. These results were surprising to researchers who, stressed that macaques from Morocco and Algeria «do not mix in the wild, even though they are perfectly capable of it».

However, the DNA testing confirmed that all ancestors of Gibraltar macaques are coming from the two North African neighboring countries.

Martin commented on these findings, concluding that «the natural macaques of Europe died out and some bright spark decided to bring a few Moroccan or Algerian macaques to Gibraltar and it grew from there».

Now, Barbary macaques are Gibraltar’s main tourist attraction. They are fed by «tourists and the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS)», the same source concluded.