Major exhibition opens in Edinburgh this weekend, Monkeys: Our Primate Family

Press images are available to download here. 

Tickets for Monkeys: Our Primate Family are available to book at nms.ac.uk/Monkeys 

The biggest exhibition of primate behaviour ever staged returns to the National Museum of Scotland this weekend. From huge gorillas to tiny mouse lemurs, Monkeys: Our Primate Family (28 Jun - 30 Nov 2025) explores the remarkable lives of our closest relatives.  

Ahead of the opening on Saturday 28 June, experts at the National Museum of Scotland have been adding the finishing touches to more than 60 spectacular monkey, ape, lemur and loris specimens featured in the exhibition. 

Monkeys: Our Primate Family is the first exhibition of its kind, capturing primates acting as they would in the wild. Taxidermy specimens created for the exhibition reveal behaviours rarely seen by humans and demonstrate how primate species have adapted to survive. Atmospheric lighting and naturalistic displays create a tropical forest experience to explore while encountering some of the rarest and most endangered primate species on earth. Visitors to the exhibition will also learn about ongoing conservation efforts to protect these extraordinary animals and their fragile habitats. 

The exhibition first opened at the National Museum of Scotland in 2016 before embarking on an international tour. It returns to Edinburgh for a final time having been seen by over 500,000 visitors in six countries around the world. 

Professor Andrew Kitchener, Principal Curator of Vertebrate Biology at National Museums Scotland, said: 

“We are all primates, but how much do we really know about our extended family? Following a successful global tour, this is the last chance to experience this remarkable exhibition. Monkeys: Our Primate Family provides a unique opportunity to see these fascinating animals up close. Visitors will also learn about the threats facing primates and what we can do to protect them.” 

Visitors to Monkeys will discover how primates have evolved and adapted, their unique methods of locomotion, and the tools they have developed to obtain food. A gibbon swings through the trees while a chimpanzee fishes for termites. The exhibition also reveals the fascinating ways they communicate and their complex social systems. A tarsier is shown using ultrasonic communication and a vervet monkey reveals how its different calls warn about each different predator. 

The final section of the exhibition looks at conservation as well as some of the threats humans pose to primates today, including the climate emergency, conflict, and the bush meat trade. It includes endangered primates, such as the Sumatran orangutan and the black-and-white ruffed lemur. 

Thanks to the support of players of People’s Postcode Lottery, children can visit Monkeys: Our Primate Family (28 Jun – 30 Nov 2025) for free. For the first time, the National Museum of Scotland is also offering those on Universal Credit and other named UK benefits discounted exhibition entry. 

The exhibition is supported by a programme of public events.