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The Barbary macaque population in Gibraltar is the only wild monkey population in the European continent, and, unlike that of North Africa, it is thriving. At present, some 300 animals in five troops occupy the area of the Upper Rock area of the Gibraltar Nature Reserve, though occasional forays into the town may result in damage to personal property. As they are a tailless species, they are also known locally as Barbary apes or rock apes, despite being monkeys (''Macaca sylvanus''). The local people simply refer to them as ''monos'' ((英語:monkeys)) when conversing in Spanish or Llanito (the local vernacular). ==Origin== All Gibraltar Barbary macaques are descended from North African populations of Barbary macaques. DNA evidence has established beyond doubt the present population is of relatively recent Algerian and Moroccan origin. No traces were found of a third source for their DNA, namely of any now-extinct ancient Iberian population.〔(Phylogeography of Barbary macaques (''Macaca sylvanus'') and the origin of the Gibraltar colony ). Clear distinction between Algerian and Moroccan haplotypes permits attribution of the Gibraltar colony to founders from both regions.〕 An earlier theory, now disproven by the DNA evidence, was that the original Gibraltar macaques were a remnant of populations that had spread throughout Southern Europe〔C. Michael Hogan (2008) (''Barbary Macaque: Macaca sylvanus'', Globaltwitcher.com, ed. N. Strõmberg )〕 during the Pliocene, up to 5.5 million years ago.〔(DNA solves mystery of Gibraltar’s macaques )〕 The ''Macaca sylvanus'' species is listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List and is declining. About 75% of the total population is found in the Middle Atlas mountains. During the Pleistocene, this species inhabited the Mediterranean coasts and Europe, reaching as far north as Germany and the British Isles. The species decreased with the arrival of the Ice Age, to extinction in the Iberian Peninsula 30,000 years ago. The skull of a Barbary macaque was discovered during excavation in the 1970s at the pre-Christian Navan Fort in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Carbon dating tests suggest it died there in the third century BC. The macaque population had been present on the Rock of Gibraltar long before Gibraltar was captured by the British in 1704. The original introduction of the macaques was most likely orchestrated by the Moors (who occupied southern Iberia, including Spain and Portugal, between 711 and 1492), who kept them as pets. In his work ''Historia de la Muy Noble y Más Leal Ciudad de Gibraltar'' (''History of the Very Noble and Most Loyal City of Gibraltar''), written between 1605 and 1610, Alonso Hernández del Portillo, the first chronicler of Gibraltar, wrote: In his ''History of Gibraltar'' (1782), Ignacio López de Ayala, a Spanish historian like Portillo, wrote of the monkeys: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Barbary macaques in Gibraltar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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