Word: macaca
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Dates: during 1944-1944
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...legend is that the British will hold Gibraltar only so long as the Barbary apes (Macaca sylvana, Europe's only native species) remain there. Since 1780, when the chattering monkeys warned the garrison of a Spanish attack, the apes of Gibraltar have been tenderly cherished. In 1872 a subaltern who shot two of them for stealing his wardrobe was court-martialed, required to apologize publicly. Nowadays the apes are free to roam the Rock's caves and roads. The military administration even includes an official charged with keeping the apes alive, healthy and procreative. He is known...