THEBIGGERISSUE.ORG: Apes Only. By Alex Albion.

Apes Only.

Photo Essay By Alex Albion.
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Apes fascinate or repulse us because we originally came

from them at some point. Whatever, my chance to spend some
time with the Barbary Apes of Gibraltar was wondeful for me.
And, to then photograph them upfront at their natural habitat and
inside their mountainside den for the first time was all the more
exciting and challenging for me as a retired news photographer.

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"Would You Like A Piece?"

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I don’t like the zoo for animals either to visit them or

to photograph them inside cages or behind barded wire.

It’s in their natural surroundings at where I love to see

them and if possible to photograph them upfront just as

they are. The safari is a treasure to behold, although

humankind all too often slaughter the great and grandest

creatures of the wild. They are usually bigger and taller
and more magnificent than the human killer of the

awesome and majestic beasts that they deliberately
kill and/or maim without a thought of what they

always do with such deadly evil and intent.
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"You Scratch My Back, I'll Scratch Your's!"

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Barbary apes are alot smaller than most humanbeings.

They are, however, alot more agile, faster, and toughter than

most of their human counterparts. Beware, alas, they can bite

alot better or badder, too. Otherwise, called monkeys are the

apes. At Gibraltar, they thrive unabatedly on the high rock.

Without them, The Rock would then die by a slow

and sure death.
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"Don't Dare Mess With Me,

'Cause I'll Eat You Alive!"

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My photo essay herein stems solely from my personal en-

counter with the apes. Sorry, I can only present just a tiny

selection of my images due to blog space and also because

some 40 of my best 150+ original images of the Barbary

apes have already been sold and copyrighted by me for

use in glossy travel magazines and holiday news media.
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And so by cable car I went and ventured upto the high middle

station of The Rock to photograph not only the Barbary Apes

themselves but also their rough, rocky, and precipitous habitat

and terrain at their centuries old living location and terrority.

At there, I then started shooting over 150 images of them

- individually and collectively- in the course of spending

much of the half-day, at the chilly morning start, as close

as I could safely get upfront to them during my first

days of the New Year, 2010, inside Gibraltar.
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"You're Ever So Pretty!!"

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“APE. Term usually applied to anthropoid apes (primates)
that are the closet relatives of humans. There are three great
apes – Chimpanzee, Gorilla, and Orangutan.- and one lesser,
the Gibbon. An ape differs from a MONKEY in being larger,
having no visible tail, and in possessing a more complex brain.
Two monkeys are also called “apes”- The Barbary Ape of

Gibraltar & North Africa, and the black ape of Celebes."
Source: Philip’s Compact Encyclopedia, 1997. p. 29.
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"Where's Our Lunch, Mate?"