Japanese Macaque aka SNOW MONKEY bathing at the Jigokudani Hot Spring waters of Nagano is one of Japan's most iconic sights. But there is more to this story than just monkeys in a hot tub.
This park has a special mission: to protect the resident monkeys and care for them through the hard winter. Staff have been doing that since the park opened in 1964, but it was in 1970 when LIFE Magazine put the Japanese Snow Monkey on the front cover that curiosity for the Japanese Macaque really grew. Despite being in a remote area of Japan, it gets many visitors from around the world.

The Japanese Macaque’s life here is dedicated to a 4 season cycle.
SPRING: babies are born, monkeys start shedding their winter coats
SUMMER: a lot of activity, playing in the mountain forests
FALL: monkeys start mating, bathing food and growing out their coats for winter.
Female monkey pregnancy lasts for 6 months. If babies were born in the winter, they wouldn't survive so the cycle of life to give birth only in spring is essential for the whole troupes survival here in the mountainous north.

This is the only place you’ll find Japanese monkeys bathing, soaking. The Japanese Macaque is the northern most primate besides humans and they have significance spiritually to Japan for thousands of years.

Where is the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park 地獄谷野猿公苑
URL: https://en.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp
Live Monkey Webcam: http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.....co.jp/livecam2/vide

00:00 Start
00:41 Welcome to Jigokudani
01:17 Morning Hot Spring Bathing
03:02 Where is the Snow Monkey Park?
04:40 The Hot Spring Bath
06:35 The Rules
08:11 It's a Paradise
08:56 The History
10:01 How they became Famous
10:23 Feeding time!
12:46 Baby Monkeys
13:31 She loves to soak!
13:49 Conclusion

A BIG THANK YOU to the staff of Jigokudani Yaen Koen 地獄谷野猿公苑 for the help to produce this and information on the resident monkeys.
CREDIT: video clips from the seasons is credited to the 地獄谷野猿公苑 and Takizawa-san.
Say hi when you visit and tell then you saw them on ONLOY in JAPAN. He's been working there for over 20 years.

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John Daub has been a reporter for NHK World TV since 2008 and YouTube creator & producer of the ONLY in JAPAN ® series building a community of over 1.6M
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