Many of Taiwan’s famous animals are famous for their elusiveness. Most wild creatures, like formosan black bears, wild boars, clouded leopards and pangolins, live deep in the mountains. Not only because of the lush greenery there, but also because only a handful of indigenous villages sit that far away. Most of these creatures prefer to stay away from humans. But one glaring exception comes in the form of the Formosan rock macaques of Kaohsiung’s Shoushan Mountain [g - ow - shung show - shan]. Formosan rock macaques (also called Taiwanese macaques) are a kind of monkey, and Shoushan, which is often called Monkey Mountain, is just one of the many mountains where the creatures can be found. Monkey Mountain is unique because it is also home to Shoushan Zoo, which welcomes hundreds of tourists every day. At the zoo, you can observe most of its dozens of animals from behind the safety of a barrier. But there is no such protection from these cheeky monkeys, who have learned tourists provide a valuable resource: unlimited snacks.
