Lola arrived at The Monkey Sanctuary in January 2022 after being kept as a pet, along with with three other long-tailed macaques. We do not know fore sure if they are related and had been bred onsite, or if they had all been bought separately beforehand.

Their cage was in a back garden, and was about 9m across x 5m back and around 3m high. They had indoor areas, but only one was heated. There were minimal furnishings in the cage and the floor was made of concrete.

Even though she is a Long-tailed macaque, Lola is missing the majority of her tail. This is fairly common within the pet trade, as cages are not often built with safety in mind and their tails can easily get trapped due to their long length. Lola injured hers and then, probably as a result of boredom and anxiety, over-groomed it to the point of it needing to be amputated. This has not held her back though, and Lola spends a lot of time exploring and climbing really high!

Lola is small but feisty. Although smaller than both Floss and Tom, and much lower-ranking, she knows how to get what she wants whilst still respecting the alphas of her group. As the youngest, Lola has a lot of social skills to learn and improve on and she struggles to trust her carers – but we know she’ll flourish with time!