Whether you’re team cat or team dog, whether you’re home is a haven to pythons or iguanas, or the guinea pig life is more for you, it’s no secret that we all love our pets.

In fact, around 70% of US households have at least one pet, meaning that if you don’t have a pet you’re actually in the minority.

And it has been that way for a long time – in fact, people have been known to have pets for over 15,000 years.

But those pets have changed quite a lot over the years – as a recent study into the ancient Roman military has recently proven.

In the resulting article, which has been published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, the researchers explain that – far from our dogs or cats – wealthy Romans kept monkeys as pets.

What’s more is that uncovered skeletons have allowed us to understand that the domesticated monkeys were species from Africa, most commonly Barbary macaques.

But recent revelations from an archaeological site in Berenike have given the researchers more insight into the lives of the ancient Romans and their pets than ever before.

And some of their results may surprise you.

That’s because the Romans didn’t just keep pets for their own pleasure or status – rather, it is believed that the monkeys, along with some dogs and cats, were beloved companion animals.

In fact, the evidence suggests that they gave their pets jewels, and even pets of their own, as the authors explain:

“The special status of these primates among other buried companion animals, mainly cats and some dogs, is suggested by grave goods including restraining collars, apparent status markers like iridescent shells and food delicacies, and kittens and a piglet as the monkey’s own pets.”

That’s right – far from merely keeping the animals as pets, they actually gave them pets of their own.

The jury’s out on whether the pets of the pets had pets too.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about the mysterious “pyramids” discovered in Antarctica. What are they?