Mesopithecus

"This little buddy can ride on your shoulder and help you out of all sorts of scraps... ;)"

- Drake

The Mesopithecus (mee-so-pith-eh-cus) is one of the creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior
The Mesopithecus is able to travel perched on your shoulder, and able to screech to warn of incoming danger, just like the dossier image implies. When fighting, it throws feces at its enemy. These feces appear to apply a slow and damage over time effect to other animals. Mesopithecus will still throw feces at animals even if it is perched on your shoulder, especially if set to 'attack your target.' It is also possible to have them throw feces at an enemy from your shoulder while you are riding another mount. Wild Mesopithecus can usually be found wandering the forests, beaches, and plains of the island. Their small size and distinctive call makes them easier to hear than see.

Appearance
The Mesopithecus looks somewhat similar to the modern Squirrel Monkey, but with a more ape-like face. They are very small and walk on all fours and come in varying shades of beige and brown, which can make them hard to spot. Usually players find them through their distinct noises, which sound similar to that of a stereotypical monkey.

Taming
Mesopithecus is tamed non-violently, rather than through the usual methods. Put the food you wish to feed it with in the far-right slot of your hotbar. Then, approach Mesopithecus and press the use key (default:E) to feed it when the button prompt appears. Do not get any closer than necessary for the prompt to appear, or Mesopithecus will get scared and run away. (It helps to crouch, and to a lesser extent wear a Ghillie Suit.) If it runs, try to keep it in sight - they can get fairly far away and their small size makes them easy to lose—but avoid chasing after it or it will continue to run. If your soon to be new best friend becomes spooked, it is recommended to get on a flying mount and take off. The monkey will no longer become startled by you (as once it has become spooked it will continue to be if the survivor is within a rather large range of said monkey). Be mindful of its health bar whilst taming, every time the Mesopithecus becomes startled it will lose a small fraction of its health, scare it too many times and it will die.Also be aware of any water near by, as Mesopithecus tend to drown if they run into the water. On PS4 (not confirmed on other platforms), if your mesopithecus runs into the water most of the time you can literally punch the monkey in the direction of the shore. Most of the time the mesopithecus will come out of the water calm and ready to be tamed.

Crouching and following the monkey will making taming much easier. With berries one must try to follow the Mesopithecus as far away as possible while still seeing the "wait till it is hungry again text" as Mesopithecus will starve to death/lose taming effectiveness very quickly with Mejoberries. It is HIGHLY recommended to use kibble.

An Argentavis or a Pteranodon can be used to pick it up and put it in a box, but this can sometimes cause the Mesopithecus to become permanently startled and therefore untameable. Rendering it unconscious resets this. Sometimes a taming box is not needed, just a high cliff area. When the mesopithecus is dropped from a high altitude it will land and become calm.

If too much time is spent between feedings then the taming bar will decrease slowly, so Kibble is more effective and allows you to make up for progress lost while defending against predators or trying to find the creature after it has run away.

Utility
Can be mounted on the player's shoulder by picking it up when prompted ("Use" key, default ), and thrown off by double tapping "mount's inventory" key (default ).

Roles

 * Companion: While not the strongest fighter, this little fella has more of a role of a companion: You will never feel alone with this creature. Mesopithecus can be carried everywhere on a shoulder. It can warn owner about danger and throw feces at enemies and hostile creatures, that poisons them and slows them down a fair bit (Level Health and Weight).


 * Door Opener: If thrown into a base, the Mesopithecus can open doors (only thatch and wooden doors) from the inside, by using the "Whistle Attack THIS Target" command (default: ) on the door. It is thrown in the direction the player is facing, so by pointing upward it can get across wall more than 2 floors high. (Level Health and Speed)


 * Backpack: Only half their weight is put on your shoulder, meaning you can carry extra weight (Level Weight).


 * Wingman: When on shoulder, the Mesopithecus can give you a helping hand by throwing feces while you ride another dino as if he's a gunner. Its thrown feces can slow your enemy, giving you the upper hand. However your dino or the enemy may move too fast for the feces to hit accurately. Most helpful when trying to retreat Setting targeting distance to highest will help when on large mounts.(Level Health and maybe Melee). This can also be useful when attacking faster passive dinos for hide eg a Gallilimus, as it slows them allowing for an easier kill especially at lower levels.


 * Fertilizer Farm: Mesopithecus is the only tame (currently) that can produce . Since the can process one of each type of feces at a the same time, the addition of a Mesopithecus to a fertilizer/oil farm will increase  production output.


 * Pet: The Mesopithecus is a very suitable pet due to being small and adorable. (Level Health so it stays alive, and Food so it starves slower)


 * Gatherer: It can autonomously gather when wandering, making it useful for collecting quick snacks or ingredients for recipes. (Level Weight, Health and Movement Speed)

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Mesopithecus.

General
There are only a few reasons to kill them: Their small amount of hide and meat. Killing low level/drab individuals to encourage high level and/or event colored Mesopithecus to spawn. Their constant noises, can become annoying.

Strategy
As there is no reason to kill them, and they cannot harm the player, no strategy exists to fight one. To kill one, any method known to the player will suffice.

Weaponry
Any weapon can kill a Mesopithecus, even the player's own two hands.

Dangers
A Mesopithecus isn't dangerous directly, but because of the fast rate it flees at, a pursuing survivor might be inadvertently lead into a dangerous area. Because of their small size and low stature, a Mesopithecus can easily walk into low lying bushes undetected, which can be an annoyance.

Weakness
With little health, Mesopithecus are often killed accidentally. Even land mounts that deal crush damage can send an unwary Mesopithecus flying into oblivion and collecting berries en masse with a Bronto can result in slaughter of whole groups of them.

Notes/Trivia

 * The Dossier was revealed on 06/09/15 on Steam.
 * There is a bug at the moment where being punched, while it is on your shoulder, will cause it to disappear.
 * Logging out with the mesopithecus on your shoulder can cause it to despawn.
 * Whilst the Dossier says it is commonly found in jungles, it tends to be more commonly found on the outskirts, where the jungle meets a beach or open grassland.
 * 50% of the inventory weight of a Monkey on your shoulder is put on you.
 * The Mesopithecus can pick a small amount of berries, if it's left near bushes and is not following the player. They will also pick berries if set to wander
 * Throwing a monkey on your shoulder may be sent off course by a couple of feet in either direction. Crouching greatly increases accuracy of thrown monkeys.
 * They can be equipped with a helmet (same as players) on the slot usually reserved for saddles.
 * Strangely enough, the Mesopithecus actually drops Human Feces. This is likely because the creature is so small and the Small Animal Feces would look too large in comparison to the size of the Mesopithecus.
 * Pressing whilst sitting on a flyer will throw any shoulder-pet away. Be careful!
 * Contrary to the Dossier, the Mesopithecus will run from humans that get too close.
 * Despite the Dossier stating that Mesopithecus is omnivorous, it is actually herbivorous in-game.
 * Mesopithecus ignore items dropped on the ground, despite what the Dossier states.
 * The Mesopithecus can be knocked out like other passive tames, but it is impossible to tame when knocked out.
 * Real Mesopithecus were social animals that lived in a group called a troop just like other monkeys, Ark's Mesopithecus can mostly be found on their own but they can be seen together in small groups.