7th grade spent the day on Friday at Sanjay Gandhi National Park as an introduction to their community social responsibility role as trustees of our environment.
The two types of monkeys we saw were at the Kanheri Caves, ancient Buddhist caves used from first to the tenth centuries as monasteries and more importantly, as a site for water collection and storage.
The monkeys were rhesus macaques and bonnet macaques, but only the rhesus is native to the park. In the past, tourists would feed the monkeys which because, as you might expect, a bit of a dangerous fiasco. So feeding the monkeys is now forbidden. They still come very, very close to the
tourists, though, practically brushing shoulders as they pass you if you're not careful.
The park is surrounded on three sides by the urban sprawl of Mumbai, but inside you'd never know you were near the city. Birds and wildlife are present in the park including spotted deer, monkeys, tigers and leopards. There were also a multitude of butterflies. Luckily we didn't see any tigers or leopards during our visit. They're mostly nocturnal and there have been several leopard attacks over the last month.
The two types of monkeys we saw were at the Kanheri Caves, ancient Buddhist caves used from first to the tenth centuries as monasteries and more importantly, as a site for water collection and storage.
The monkeys were rhesus macaques and bonnet macaques, but only the rhesus is native to the park. In the past, tourists would feed the monkeys which because, as you might expect, a bit of a dangerous fiasco. So feeding the monkeys is now forbidden. They still come very, very close to the
tourists, though, practically brushing shoulders as they pass you if you're not careful.
