When visiting the capuchin enclosure at the PRC, one of the first things you will notice is a large, beefy monkey named Louie! Louie is a former pet from Virginia who arrived at the PRC in 2004 at the age of 2. He is the largest monkey in the group of five, and he is the dominant male in the group. Louie is always excited to see his caregivers in the morning, and you can often hear his happy squeals when he sees their cars arriving for the day.
One thing that Louie loves to do is use food and other strong-smelling objects to scent mark. Scent marking has been observed in many different monkey species and can have several different purposes – from medicinal, to social. Louie LOVES using garlic cloves and onions to scent mark. He takes whole garlic cloves and onion slices and rubs them all over his hair until he is nice and fragrant. You can usually tell when he has been scent marking just by looking at him because he likes to really get the natural oils to spread all over himself. He will also scent mark using small blankets that have a few drops of essential oils on them. Any scent that he likes will do!
Louie loves spending time in his outdoor enclosure, especially in the spring and summer when the weather is nice. You can usually find him climbing on his play structures or napping with his best pal, Cysgo. Although Louie is much larger than the other capuchins in the group, he doesn’t use his size to intimidate them. He definitely gets first pick when it comes to food and enrichment, but he always makes sure there is enough to go around.
If you would like to become Louie’s Primate Pal, click here to adopt him today!