World Of Animals: Inside The Park Where Monkeys Bathe In Hot Springs

Hi friends! Last week we took a virtual trip to an incredible national park in Argentina full of giant otters and capybaras! Those photos were pretty incredible, huh? We've also visited some other pretty cool places in this segment, from a real life cat village in Taiwan to the Japanese rabbit island of Okunoshima. Today, after nearly a month, we're excited to announce that we are going back to Japan for a very important reason: to visit the snow monkeys of Jigokudani.

If you love hot springs, monkeys, and all together cool experiences, then you're going to be interested in Jigokudani Monkey Park. According to the website for the place, "the Jigokudani Monkey Park - often referred to as the Snow Monkey Park - is home to a very special troop of monkeys. Created in 1964, the park was established as a conservation area in which the monkeys - Japanese macaques to be exact - would have a refuge within what was already their natural habitat. Once in the park, the naturally-curious monkeys observed humans using the hot spring of a nearby guesthouse and before long, started copying the behaviour."

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According to the website for the park where the monkeys bathe, these monkeys are the only ones in the world who bathe in hot springs, "They are the only troop known to do so, something that entered the global consciousness in 1970 when LIFE magazine profiled the bathing monkeys on its cover. Since that time, visitors from around the world have been coming to the park to spend time with the famous Snow Monkeys of Jigokudani."

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The monkeys in the park are completely wild and most striking during the winter, but present during all four seasons, "Though wild, the monkeys come to the park throughout the year and as a place of four distinct seasons, there is never a bad time to visit! Most famously, the monkeys love to soak themselves in the cold and heavy snow of winter. Spring is a time for new babies, summer is lush and verdant, and autumn transforms the landscape into a mosaic of red, amber, and gold as leaves turn before the return of winter." (source)

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