Monkey (race)

Monkeys are an animal species found on RuneScape. They are traditionally located in thick jungles on remote islands, though can also be seen in Ardougne zoo. Monkeys are known for their higher intelligence when compared to other animals, being able to utilise simple tools and converse between each other.

Despite monkey traditionally referring to a primate with a tail in real life, in RuneScape it also refers to primates without tails such as Gorillas. This is evident with the Monkey Guard which is actually a gorilla and the official lore Tumeken's Dream which uses monkey and ape interchangeably.

Species
In RuneScape, there are four known species of monkeys: the Karamja monkey, the 'harmless' monkey, the Ape Atoll monkey and the extinct Kharidian Desert monkey.

Karamjan monkeys
The Karamjan monkeys (Simiiformes Karamjan) are yellow-furred, dangerous, and with a red mohawk. These were once regular animals, but they appeared very different, and still do. They are only found on Karamja. Karamjan monkeys are known by scholars for their intelligence, though are not as smart as their ape atoll equivalents.

Karamjan monkeys are obsessed with bananas and bitternuts, being known to continuously eat large amounts of each until the source runs out. Sources of both food are quite rare on Karamja though, and eating them is a real treat. Karamjan monkeys detest eating seaweed, probably as a result from endless adventurers making Seaweed sandwiches from monkey skin and seaweed.

Karamjan monkeys will attempt to flee from players who have started the Tai Bwo Wannai Trio quest. The only way to kill a monkey when this is happening is to use Ranged, magic or a Halberd to kill it.

There are Karamjan monkeys located in the Ardougne Zoo as part of 'Monkey Madness' Quest most are un-attackable but a few are.

Harmless monkeys
Harmless monkeys are located throughout the jungles of Mos Le'Harmless. They are very similar in structure to the karamjan monkey, being the same size and shape. The harmless monkey is a lighter shade of brown then their karamjan counterparts

Ape Atoll monkeys
At an unknown point, the monkey god Marimbo went to Ape Atoll in search of followers. He discovered the monkeys and apes on the island which he possibly might have given greater intelligence to. With the new intelligence, the monkeys and apes worked together to build the city of Marim. Since then, great advances have been made in all fields; they developed the ability to make, wield and use weapons; runes and magic were discovered; a religion was formed in honour of Marimbo; great stone buildings were constructed; a universal language was created.

Many people believe these creatures to be docile, however, not many realise that if they wandered too far into monkey cities, apes and monkeys could probably kill them immediately. Ape Atoll monkeys see themselves as superior to all other races, and as a result want to invade and conquer other civilizations.

Kharidian Desert monkeys
Little is known of the monkeys located in Kharidian Desert. They existed in the early ages on the western side of Kharidian Desert close to tribes of humans. They were a highly social and friendly species, bringing joy to all those around them. It was because of their good nature, that when Tumeken visited them in a dream he granted a female monkey lesser deity powers as well as the ability to change shape. She became Apmeken, the goddess of mental pleasures.

At an unknown point less than 50 years ago, all monkeys in the region were wiped out by Leeuni, Ayuni and Eruni, three demonic apes created by Amascut using Apmeken's stolen voice, sight and hearing respectively, in order to ensure she wouldn't return to the desert. Only the Three wise monkeys managed to survive, despite each losing one of their senses, by working together to escape the onslaught, and were forced to relocate to Karamja, before eventually settling in Ape Atoll, resulting in none being left in the desert today.

Oddly enough, the desert monkeys lived in forests before the Kharidian region was a desert. Despite this, Senliten still refers to them as desert monkeys rather than Kharidian monkeys.

Trouble Brewing monkeys
These monkeys can be used for one purpose: to help retrieve bitternuts up in bitternut trees in the Trouble Brewing minigame. A player must catch a monkey, dye it their teams colour by using a bowl of coloured water on it, and send it up a tree. If two monkeys are up a tree at the same time, they fight over who gets the bitternut. If you wear an m'speak amulet, you can talk to the monkey and ask it to go up the tree without having to hassel to try to catch it. If you examine this monkey, it say "perhaps arr oldest piratical relatives?", adding the pun 'arr' for the word 'our'.

Closely related species

 * Jungle horrors
 * Cave horrors
 * Humans

Greegree monkeys (players)
In Ape Atoll or the Ardougne zoo, players wielding a particular greegree can transform into monkeys themselves. There are eight greegrees available: A Monkey greegree (Karamjan), 2 types of Zombie (small and large), 2 types of Ninja (small and large) and 3 types of Gorilla (with or without beard and a special blue-faced one). Thus, players are able to transform into any of these species of monkey. This transformation is required in the Monkey Madness, Recipe for Disaster and Do No Evil quests.

Pet monkeys
With level 27 Hunter and level 95 Summoning, a Baby monkey can be caught using a Box trap, giving 100 Hunter experience. A banana bait is needed, and a baby monkey requires bananas to grow into an adult monkey.

Origin of humans
The examine text of regular monkeys reads: "Perhaps our oldest relatives?" It is interesting to note that history in RuneScape includes the idea of evolution and the presence of gods on Gielinor. Some believe that the existence of gods implies creationism, but there is no evidence that the two ideas are mutually exclusive in RuneScape (though elsewhere). There is no direct evidence that any god on Gielinor created humans while there are anecdotes of the opposite:
 * In the Monkey Madness quest, a gnome tells the player that both humans and gnomes are descended from monkeys, humans more recently. This could, of course, be a gnome belief rather than a fact.
 * In the Meeting History quest, a human tells of how the first humans came to Gielinor via a portal from another world. Guthix did not create humans, but did meet with these first settlers and instructed them in keeping balance in their new homeland. The question of whether humans evolved or were created on their original world is not explored, but they apparently were not created on Gielinor at least. The person relating this history was a participant and witness to these events, which give credence that the story may be correct. The person, of course, could be deliberately deceiving the player, be deluded or be under an enchantment, but there is no evidence of this in the quest.

Notable Monkeys

 * Elder Guard - the head Gorilla guard to the Awowogei's palace
 * Monkey Guard
 * Monkey Archer
 * Monkey Child
 * Bonzara
 * Zombie monkey
 * Marimbo - the Monkey god
 * King Awowogei - ruler of Marim in Ape Atoll
 * Uwogo - Advisor to King Awowogei
 * Muruwoi - Advisor to King Awowogei
 * Iwazaru, Kikazaru, and Mizaru - the Three wise monkeys
 * Trefaji and Aberab - the cell guards in Monkey Madness quest
 * Kruk - The head Ninja monkey
 * Uruio - Ninja monkey that rarely appears when humans are sighted
 * Dugopul - Hangs around near the graveyard
 * Hafuba - Head priest at the Temple of Marimbo
 * Solihib - Runs a food stall
 * Daga - Runs a scimitar stall
 * Tutab - Runs a magic stall
 * Ifaba - Runs a general store
 * Padulah - Guards the statue of Marimbo
 * The Monkey's Aunt
 * The Monkey's Uncle
 * Dealga - Owns Dealga's Scimitar Emporium

Locations

 * Karamja
 * Ardougne Zoo
 * Ape Atoll
 * Mos Le'Harmless
 * Western Kharidian desert (formerly)
 * By every Magic carpet in the Kharidian desert
 * In the Varrock Swordshop
 * In Varrock Museum