Dawkins, the Aloof Giant

Sex: Male

Year Born: 2008

Year arrived at Sanctuary: 2018

Species: Rhesus macaque

Favorite Food: Corn on the cob

Favorite Pastime:Surveying his domain from a high point in his enclosure

Dislikes: Long waits at the airport

Dawkins arrived at the primate sanctuary in May 2018 in a flurry of publicity. Like Creed and Oscar, who also arrived in May 2018, Dawkins was rehomed from animal experimentation and into our care. On the day of his arrival at the sanctuary, Dawkins created a stir at the San Antonio Airport when the bottom of the crate that the lab had transported him in literally fell out. He spent a short time on the loose in the airport but was, thankfully, safely brought under control without injury to him or anyone else.

Despite this stressful event, Dawkins quickly settled into his new life at the sanctuary. It has been a challenge to find monkeys who he can be friends with as he is huge in size and intimidates some of the other monkeys. He found a firm friend in Flo, an older Japanese macaque, who could hold her own with him and they lived together happily for some time but she since passed away from age-related illness. We are now working to socialize Dawkins with another group so that he can get back to his favorite pastimes – grooming with other monkeys.

If you adopt Dawkins, consider also adopting Oscar, another rhesus macaque from animal experimentation.