Another money with a tail is this iron nutcracker with copper wash that was crafted in England in the early 19^th century.  It is a direct pressure nutcracker that will crack 2 different sizes of nuts.

Moving into the antique wooden showcases I found an intricately carved monkey with tail draped over his leg.  It was carved in Switzerland from beech wood and dated 1860.

Another interesting monkey showing a tail is this striking one that was carved in South America from ironwood and measures 11inches.

An even larger wooden monkey showing a tail is one from Germany measuring 11.5 inches.  It was carved in the early 20^th century of conifer wood.  The museum shows a number of similar figures, but this is the only one which shows a tail. 

Most of the primates in the museum are just carved heads so we do not know if they indeed do have tails. However it is not the tail of the monkey that attracts the most attention, but the HAT!!!  Yes, this monkey sporting a top hat is the most popular primate in the museum!

A bit more about monkeys and apes… A monkey cannot swing from tree to tree, but runs along the top of the branches as its body structure is more like that of a cat or dog. Apes have larger brains and bodies than monkeys and their shoulder structure allows them to swing from tree to tree.