The monkey muttations are present in one of the hourly sections of the arena. These muttations look like Mandrill monkeys with orange fur and are highly deadly. They viciously attack Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, and Finnick Odair as they are recovering from the poisonous fog. Peeta narrowly escapes with his life when the female morphling protects him from the muttations by sacrificing her own life.
Physical Description of Monkey Muttations
I have never seen a live monkey—there’s nothing like that in our woods at home. But I must have seen a picture, or one in the Games, because when I see the creatures, the same word comes to my mind. I think these have orange fur, although it’s hard to tell, and are about half the size of a full-grown human.
Catching Fire
The monkey muttations resemble monkeys in both look and form. They are bigger than regular monkeys and about half the size of an adult human being. They have retractable claws that can be used to their advantage in combat.
Characteristics of Monkey Muttations
Katniss guesses correctly that the monkey muttations are triggered by eye contact. The muttations are also extremely fast, more so than any animal she has ever witnessed in her life.
They are capable of moving swiftly from tree to tree, easily and smoothly sliding down vines. The mutts can jump incredible distances. When they are provoked to aggression, they look menacing, with their hackers raised and their fangs bare. The fangs are extremely sharp and deadly. The muttations also have retractable claws that shoot out like switchblades. The claws are likely built into the monkeys by Gamemakers to be used in combat.
Monkey Muttations in the 75th Hunger Games
Several muttations are used in the Hunger Games to provide extra misery and torture to the contestants. The monkey muttations are one such muttations that are found in the 3 AM to 4 AM section of the arena of the 75th Hunger Games. These muttations are preceded by the poisonous fog, which Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick get caught in. Jabberjays, tracker jackers, snake mutts, wolves, and butterflies, are other mutattions that are used
After Katniss and her allies escape from the poison fog, having lost a member of their alliance on the way (Mags Flanagan), they reach the end of the tropical jungle and arrive at the beach. Here, Peeta first notices two of the monkey muttations and points them out to Katniss.
Katniss takes the presence of the monkeys to be a good sign: that the air is no longer poisonous. After catching her breath, she soon realizes that the seawater is healing.
The Menacing Monkey Mutts Arrive
Katniss and the others begin cleansing their bodies of the fog by dipping themselves into the saltwater. Once they have healed their bodies, Peeta goes to a nearby tree to harvest some drinking water. Katniss and Finnick stay close to the beach where Finnick plays around in the water.
As Katniss and Finnick make their way back to Peeta, Katniss is alerted to dozens of monkey muttations, perched silently on the limbs of the trees at the edge of the jungle. The monkeys were extremely silent in their movements and none of them were able to hear them arrive.
The monkeys do not chatter or scream. They simply breathe heavily as they sit on the branches. Katniss’ instincts as a hunter kicks into gear when she senses the presence of the muttations. She also speculates that the technologically advanced ear that the Capitol equipped her with after the 74th Hunger Games was capable of picking up faint sounds.
Thus, unbeknownst to them, the monkey muttations have ominously arrived. Katniss alerts Finnick to the imminent danger by touching his arm and he follows Katniss’ gaze upward.
However, Peeta, who is still trying to collect water from the tree, is unaware of the monkeys. Katniss calmly asks him for help as she does not want to trigger either him or the monkeys. She gets ready for combat by stringing two arrows onto her bow. Finnick also prepares himself to fight with the trident.
The Monkey Mutts Attack
Unfortunately, on his way to Katniss, Peeta becomes aware of the presence of the monkeys and glances upwards for just a second. This acts as a trigger and all of the monkeys converge upon him in no time.
Katniss fends off the muttations with her arrows. Finnick does the same with his trident and Peeta defends himself with his knife. However, the muttations are extremely powerful and threaten to dominate the three. They claw at Katniss as she fights them off, and she soon runs out of arrows.
Katniss requests Peeta for the extra sheath of arrows on his back, and as Peeta is complying with this request, a monkey mutt throws itself on top of him with its fangs bared.
Suddenly, the female morphling from District 6 jumps ahead of him just in time, taking the blow herself instead. The muttation sinks its teeth into her chest. Peeta kills the muttation with his knife but it is too late. The morphling girl has already been infused with the poison from the fangs. She also suffers from internal bleeding and dies.
The Monkey Mutts Disappear
The muttations suddenly begin to retract into the jungle. Katniss does not understand why but speculates that they are listening to the command of a Gamemaker. It is likely that the mutts reached the end of the hour and were making way for the fresh disaster that was scheduled for the next hour.
They are withdrawing, backing up trees, fading into the jungle, as if some unheard voice calls them away. A Gamemaker’s voice, telling them this is enough.
Catching Fire
FAQs
What do the muttations symbolize in ‘The Hunger Games’?
The muttations in ‘The Hunger Games’ symbolize the power of the Capitol to create new, genetically engineered life. At the same time, the muttations also symbolize the power of the Capitol to cause death and suffering as, more often than not, the muttations are created to kill tributes in the arena. Thus, these mutts can range from deadly reptiles with thick reptilian tails, and capable of picking up Katniss’ scent, to wasps whose bites cause madness, hallucinations, and lumps the size of plums.
What are the monkey things in ‘The Hunger Games’?
The monkey things in ‘The Hunger Games’ are genetically engineered muttations created by the Capitol for the 75th Hunger Games. These mutts resemble monkeys in look and form. However, they have been designed to be extremely deadly with dangerous fangs, claws that shoot out like switchblades, and an incredible ability to move quickly and swiftly between trees.
What were the muttations at the Cornucopia?
The muttations at the Cornucopia were wolf mutts. These mutts have enhanced features such as razor-sharp claws that were four-inch long and left deep punctures in the victims’ flesh, as well as powerful hind legs. They attack Cato. Other known muttations include rabbit mutts, carnivorous squirrels, muttation gnats (that killed Leeg 2), lizard mutts, crickets/grasshoppers, candy pink birds (used in the 50th Hunger Games), wasps (that kill Glimmer through the venom in their stings), male jabberjays, the ‘beast’ which is an unidentified mutt from the 75th Hunger Games, as well as the Mockingjay.
What are the baboons in ‘The Hunger Games’?
The baboons in ‘The Hunger Games’ are muttations created by the Capitol for the 75th Hunger Games. The muttations are present in the 3 AM to 4 AM section of the arena and attack any tributes who occupy this section of the arena at the same time. The baboon mutts attack Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick, and kill the female tribute from District 6.
What does Mutt mean in ‘The Hunger Games’?
‘Mutt’ is a shortened version of the word, ‘muttation’ in ‘The Hunger Games.’ Mutts are genetically modified creatures, that sometimes have deadly features such as sharp talons, deadly beaks, fast wings, strong jaws, and so on. Several characters die at the hands of mutts, both before the rebellion and after, including members of Squad 451 such as Jackson and Castor.
