Notes
Natural caves are commonly found under the hilly grounds that carpet the places that typically suit flying monkeys. The same conditions that promote healthy flying monkey gathers, namely wide dense forests, undulating terrain and winding rivers that carved out valleys over the eons also provide the substrate for cave formation. As underground springs feed small creeks and coalescing rivers, they carry with them grain by grain the eroded silt from the limestone bedrock. While some of the caves wander for miles underground, most descend only a few tens of feet around the cracks where the springs escape into the light. These small caves are difficult to see when situated more than a few feet from their mouth, however they open up once inside usually into roomy dank spaces. Within the caves, where year round the air temperature remains stable, the monkeys nest. The monkey caves provide for their inhabitants shelter, water, space for food storage and preparation and, of course, somewhere to hide from those who would hunt them. Smaller caves often also come in handy during the moon phases when the flying monkeys hunt. Because their primary attack method is the flying swoop, most consider monkeys as a danger only from above. However, monkeys also can employ small hunt caves as a site for an ambush from below, relying more on their fangs and claws than on the force of their powerful wings for the kill. The monkeys find this route especially effective when pursuing smaller or slower and ground-bound creatures that offer less risk of flight (such as poodles, for example).