Today marks the start of Chinese New Year, with millions of people around the world taking part in colourful celebrations. Each Chinese New Year is characterised by one of 12 animals which appear in the Chinese Zodiac. This year it’s the Year of the Monkey, the 9th of the 12 animals in the Zodiac.
As well as sharing the monkey sign with celebrity environmentalists Tom Hanks, Bo Derek and Gisele Bündchen, people born under the monkey sign are said to share certain character traits. To mark the start of the New Year, we’ve swung around the Arkive collection to reveal the personality traits people born in the Year of the Monkey share with their wild relatives.
Witty
People born in the Year of the Monkey are thought to have a good sense of humour, like this guy…
…they’re also partial to monkeying around like this pair having a snowball fight…
and they’re not afraid of taking risks…
Intelligent
With expressive faces monkeys are really charismatic but they aren’t just interesting to look at, they are also very intelligent. They are particularly bright when it comes to finding food.
From swimming to find the best food…
…to washing it before eating it…
…many monkey species know how to feed their appetites. But they also know to make sure they get their vitamins and minerals. Take these gray langurs licking rocks to obtain salt…
…and this dusky leaf monkey whose found water on tap…
Mischievous
The Endangered Barbary macaque is the only native species of primate to occur in Europe. But like its relatives, this monkey has a rather mischievous side. Like all macaques, they have cheek pouches beside the lower teeth that are used to store food when foraging and can hold as much food as the stomach. But why forage when you can just steal? Watch this cheeky monkey steel food from another’s cheek pouch.
Ultimately, monkeys they know how to have a good time…