Apes on a Rock

The Rock of Gibraltar is well-known for two things: having a large colony of barbary apes (which are actually monkeys, taxonomy-fans), and being under British rule.

However, did you know that these two things are, traditionally, seen as interconnected? Much like the Tower of London with its ravens, it is said the Rock will cease to be under British command the day that all the apes die out.

Daft myth? Perhaps so, but when numbers dwindled to just 7 simians after World War II, Winston Churchill picked up his huge Bakelite telephone, chewed angrily on his cigar, and demanded that the ape population be boosted with extra animals from North Africa. Which they duly were.