Antalya's Eko Park welcomes monkeys from South America

Eko Park in the southern province of Antalya’s Kemer district has welcomed new guests from Peru and Guiana, which include eight monkeys of three different species: Saimiri sciureus (Squirrel monkey), Cebus paella (Capuchin monkey) and Saguinus midas (red-handed Tamarin monkey).

Eko Park, which covers an area of nearly 40,000-squaremeters, is visited by 40,000 to 50,000 visitors per year. The park is home to reptiles and plants, which are in danger of being extinct in Turkey and the rest of the world. Among them are 1.5 million trees, some 2 million frogs, 1.5 million lizards, 3,500 snakes, 450 tortoises, as well as crocodiles, iguanas, spiders, scorpions, chameleons, badgers, bats, weasels, birds and fish from the Amazon and the River Nile.

The eight monkeys in the park draw great interest from visitors, especially from Russian tourists’ children who are very curious about the monkeys, say park officials. The four monkeys were named İdiamin, Putin, Fidel Castro and Pushkin.

Morphologist, herpetologist and founder of Eko Park, Selami Tomruk, said the monkeys are an endangered species. He said they had prepared a natural habitat for the monkeys in Eko Park and the babies of those monkeys would be taken to the wildlife in Peru and Guiana, according to their agreement.

“Some of the origins of these Peruvian and Guinean monkeys are genetically very close to human beings. We have spent a lot of money to create their natural habitat here. I hope they will love it. We will take their babies and place them in their natural habitat,” Tomruk said.

Tomruk said the United States undertook health checks on the monkeys and they arrived in Turkey via Los Angeles on Swedish Airlines.