The thirteenth letter of the modern English alphabet is the letter M.
M is a special because it has the sound that means things are good – mmmmmmmm! Mmmm, this tastes nice; mmmm that sounds good; mmmmmm, I love it!
The Roman numeral Ⅿ represents the number 1,000, though it was not used in Roman times. We will explain what “Roman Numerals” are when we get to the letter R.
M is also a special letter because it is the first letter in the word Mummy, Mother, Mom, Ma – all of which are the names one calls the person who nurtures (this means looks after) the children. The letter M has other delicious connotations (meanings) think of some good foods that begin with M – milk, marshmallow, mustard, mocha (chocolate and coffee mix), mandarin (citrus fruit), mango, mussels and maple syrup!
Of course, M is the first letter in the word mischievous which means playful, amongst other meanings, and that is what monkeys are. We have lots of these monkeys on our island and they get up to lots of mischief, especially when they eat the fruit off our fruit trees!
The monkeys we have wild on St. Maarten are called vervet monkeys. They are everywhere on the island, both on the French and the Dutch side. The Nature Foundation has researched this monkey population and found that there are many monkeys who have baby monkeys, which means the population of monkeys on the island is growing and growing.
Monkeys do cause problems because when they can’t get food in the wild they will come down into people’s backyards and cause a bit of havoc. They eat the fruit from the trees; they even eat the peas and tomatoes.
No-one really knows what to do about these growing monkey troupes that wander around. A large group of monkeys is known as a troupe!
The best thing to do if you have monkeys in your garden is to go indoors. They can bite, they can act aggressively to both residents and pets. They can make a big mess when they look in the garbage bins to see if there is something for them to eat in there. They also leave their calling card on outdoor furniture and in the garden (a calling card is a polite way of saying they poop in the garden, the big word you can use to explain this is defecate.)
The monkeys will act aggressively if they feel threatened. Monkeys are not picky eaters and will eat anything from bird eggs to ornamental and fruit plants and trees.
If you know of a monkey troupe that is being bothersome you can contact the Nature Foundation by telephone 544-4267 or you can e-mail them:
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