Noelle is a female vervet, or African green monkey. She arrived at the Sanctuary in 2001. She is about eight years old. As a former "pet," Noelle was treated like a human child and kept in diapers and a harness. Emotionally disturbed by this experience, Noelle continues to show some dysfunctional, abnormal behavior such as repetitive jumping. She lives with a group of vervets inside one of our spacious, semi-natural vervet enclosures. Her home is naturally enriched with an earthen floor, trees, and other vegetation. Noelle is the most sociable of the vervets. She enjoys the company of others and is both active and playful, leaping across branches and "skywalks."
She has struck up a close friendship with another former "pet" called Chango and the two can often be seen grooming and playing with each other. Despite being the smallest vervet at the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary, Noelle is one of the most dominant and vocal. She takes a keen interest in what goes on outside the vervet enclosure and will sit and watch the snow monkeys playing nearby in a free range enclosure. She appears to be worried that she may be missing out on something, particularly treats, and becomes very vocal to her human caregivers when food is being given to the snow monkeys. A satisfying handful of raisins often elicits a chatter of obvious pleasure.
