Independence Day

September 15 is Central American Independence Day. Or something like that. I didn't know that the whole of Central America had an independence day, but apparently they do. Apparently its also tradition for people to run a torch (like the Olympic torch) from Guatemala to Costa Rica. The story goes that when Central America won its independence from Spain, the people ran out of their houses with their torches to celebrate. So, that tradition continues to this day. Every year during the month of September, a torch gets passed to the people from the park, and they run it through the park. And I got to participate! Kind of. I was doing laundry, when I ran into Elvin (local Tico, has worked with spider monkeys in the park for 7 years [!]) who said I should come along to see the torch. I wasn't quite sure what I was in for, but I went along. We hung out at the entrance to the park (for like 3 hours, a little long than I was expecting, but hey, that's Tico time). There were a lot of people driving by in cars and on bikes with Costa Rica flags and everybody was just hanging out, having a good time. Then the guy who was carrying the torch came and lit the torch that belongs to the park, and some guys from the park ran it to the Casona, which is a historical ranch house. I just sat in the truck, as I wasn't up for running. An interesting tradition, I think. We don't really have an equivalent in the States, at least not something that all people can participate in. I'm glad I got to be a part of it, if only from an on-lookers perspective.

Silent Smack Down

The monkeys ran all over carnation today. Like three times what they normally range. I'm exhausted! My males pulled a sneak attack on one of our other study groups today. I didn't even notice that my males were gone (well, actually, if we're talking about human primate males, I have noticed, actually, but that's a different blog...) until I heard a bunch of alarm calling in the far distance and thought, 'that's weird'. Then Reid, who works with the LV group, came on the radio asking me where I was with my monkeys, and it turned out my males silently ran over to put the smack down on LV group. We always 'win' those intergroup encounters.

I will let adorable pictures tell the rest of the story of my day.


Norbert and Minvera. Look at those ears!









Hufflepuff; it looks like he's being ordained for something. Saint Huffle The Adorable.





Happy monkey family. Marmite, Padma, and unnamed baby make three.





I love this picture because it looks like Padma's smiling. Like she knows something Marmite doesn't. Haha - you think this baby is yours, but actually... Too bad it isn't in better focus.

I Heart Hufflepuff

So, I'm sure you're sick of hearing about monkey babies. But really, what else am I going to write about? So, Hufflepuff is off of his mom a lot lately, and is really the cutest thing since sliced bread. And everyone loves him! I saw Crabbe, one of the males, carrying him on his back twice today. And the smaller immatures and some other infants were having a play session with him today. Huffle climbed onto one of the juvenile's head and then used it to jump onto a branch that was above him - adorable! Norbert (the next oldest after Huffle) has changed a lot in only the last few days. His ears are now soooo big, as are his eyes! I think Norbert is really the perfect name for him - he looks exactly like a Norbert should. I thought all the babies would look alike, but I can definitely tell the difference between the two.

Marshmallow head!!!!!!!

We got back from Nicaragua day before yesterday. It was a very relaxing trip. We pretty much just hung around town or the hostel. But, oh my gosh, _the_ most embarrassing thing happened to me. I was going out on my own to just wander around town, and as I was walking into the bank, a local girl came up to me and was like ´your dress, your dress´. I wasn´t sure what she was getting at, then she made some kind of motion to her back, and I realized I had tucked my dress into my underwear when I had gone to the bathroom right before I left the hostel. So, I walked all the way through the common central garden in the hostel, and two blocks with my ass hanging out before someone was kind enough to point it out. Could have been worse, though, I could have walked through the whole town that way! Once I got into the bank, I just focused on getting some money from the ATM, but was dreading going back out onto the street, where people had just been laughing at me. But, thankfully, right when I leaving the bank, a bus pulled up that blocked their view, and I quickly walked down the street the other way. I will never wear that dress in Granada again, if I come back, for fear of being recognized and publicly mocked.

I really like Granada. Lots of bright colors on the buildings; and all that charming colonial architecture. Although imperialism isn't quite so charming, those Spanish sure could erect some purdy buildings! All the houses are like my dream house. Beautiful tile, central garden, everything very open and breezy. Except that the houses are right off the street. So basically your living room is right off the sidewalk. That would be weird, I'd need a little more privacy then that. Enjoyed the trip, but am still happy to be back 'home' and back in the jungle!

Central Square

Kate and Reid in the shade

Yet another long update

Ok, so I'm doing better about updating, but still not great. What can I say, I'm full of good intentions.

I stopped in the forest on the way back from the field today to just take a moment and enjoy the forest. I know, it sounds weird, I spend 12 hours a day in the forest, but its different when I'm not with the monkeys. Even if I can't really collect data, there is always part of my brain that is focused on the monkeys and I don't completely relax. So, nice to just sit and soak up the beautiful forest.

Oh my gosh, the sunset was amazing yesterday. Even though it happened right after I lost the monkeys (but I found them first thing the next morning). It had rained in the afternoon, but then the sky mostly cleared up, and the light was this amazing yellow orange-ish pinkish color; my skin looked like it was glowing yellow in the light. So amazing, but it only lasted a few minutes. Sometimes its frustrating, because you can only see so much in the forest, because of all the trees (obviously) but I think the light filtering through the leaves or bouncing off of them, or something, makes the light quite different then it would look anywhere else.

There's been quite the turnover in 'personnel' here at the alberque. Adrienne has left, as have Nigel and Kris. So, everyone that was here when I got here is now gone. Reid and Kate are on our team, and Mackenzie and her two assistants, Barb and Chelsea are here now. Its good and bad. Must put forth effort to get to know new people, of which at this point, honestly, I don't have an overabundance. And I miss the people that have left. But good to have new personalities and view points, and different research going on.

Reid moved into Kate's room, so now I have my own room, which, I must admit, is really nice. Oh, my own little space. Only my things. Yoga in the middle of the (very small) floor whenever I want. Niiiice.

Baby news: First, and most importantly, Hufflepuff is still alive, kicking, and walking on his own for short bursts! Oh, they grow up so fast... He is in what Nigel calls the 'marshmallow head phase'. He has a perfectly round little head, that is mostly white and is like 10 times bigger than would be proportional for his body. Why is that so freakin' cute? His mohawk is gone, he's grown out of his punk phase and is ready to get serious about living. Lavendar (his mom) has been passing him off onto a couple of the males (Marmite in particular, which makes me wonder if he's the dad...), which I love. You go girl! Make those males work for having their genes passed on. And we've had a few new additions. Minerva and Maxine had their babies pretty close to each other. And Padma had her baby the day before yesterday. I was really surprised, nobody thought that she would give birth for another month or so. But, I think since she's so young and small (this is her first baby (!) she just didn't get that 'big'. The way her face is, she kind of always looks a little surprised, but she seems to look a little more freaked out then usual. Who can blame her? One day you're running around the forest with a huge belly, the next day you have a little baby monkey necklace hanging around your neck. That must be quite the shock. But, I am really excited for Padma. She's has a very unique face, and everybody seems to either hate her and think she's quite ugly, or love her and think she's beautiful. I think she's... exotic looking. But she has the sweetest personality, she's always around the dorsal infants, and is so gentle and loving with them. I think she'll be a really good mom. If she can keep her baby. From what I hear, females don't have much luck keeping their very first born....

Valerie actually found Minverva's and Maxine's babies, but she decided that since the last three babies she named have died, that she shouldn't name babies in my group anymore. So, I named Minverva's baby Norbert, which actually turned out to be a family name, I have a great-uncle named Norbert. Perfect! I like Kreacher for Maxine's baby. Maxine got into some kind of accident, or something, and her face is a little deformed. Unlike Padma, she really is undeniably ugly. (I feel bad saying that, but its kind of true). A couple of Valerie's formal research assistants nicknamed her Halloween Maxine. So, I think Kreacher is the perfect name for her baby. It got okayed by the powers that be, but only if the baby is male. We think its female, so I'll probably have to come up another name. I like Appoline, Elladora, and Griselda (probably Griselda or Appoline the best), but it seems that these names are little long, and I was encouraged to find shorter names. But, really, read a Harry Potter book, its full of long-ass names. I can't do anything about that!

So I just spent like 15 minutes typing about baby names for monkeys. This is my life. I'm sorry, whoever's reading this. But, these may be the only babies I'll ever name, so its a big deal for me!

Shh...Don't wake the ocelot!

I didn't find the monkeys this morning and so came back home to take a break before going out to search again. While I was on the computer, Adrienne comes running back from the field and says there's an ocelot sleeping in a tree that the monkeys were alarm calling at. So, I jump up, and we all put our shoes on and run out. It was kind of funny, I was in my super short sleep shorts, and was so excited that I put my hiking boots on without realizing I didn't have pants on! So I was walking around in essentially hot pants and snake gaders and hiking boots. Some tourists in a car passed us while we were walking on the road, and a young kid gave me a weird look like I belonged on a different planet. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but it might have been my only chance to see an ocelot! Thankfully, he was still there by the time we got out there. So beautiful; perfect fur and big, caramel eyes. He was eying us, and his ears would move a little every time we moved, which was fun to watch. We hung out and took pictures for about 10 minutes, then decided we should leave him to sleep (his eyes were opening and closing a bit, so cute!). I just wanted to scratch him behind his ears and kiss his face!

A Mixed Day

So, good news first. While I was in the field thinking about this blog entry, I was originally going to title it "Monkey On The Ground!". Having monkeys on the ground in the dry season was a daily occurrence; in fact, they were pretty much always on the ground. Now the monkeys are rarely on the ground, and when they do come down to about 10 feet or so, its very exciting. And even more exciting when they actually get on the forest floor. They only get to the ground for a second or so to pick up a fallen palm tree or bromeliad fruit, and then run back up a tree. Yesterday they were down at eye level for almost an hour, and they were not only on the ground for a few seconds, but they were actually walking on the ground. Oh, it was so nice. I really do miss the dry season. Not the heat so much... But the monkeys were just so much more fun. There's something exciting about having wild monkeys that close to you. So, I got to nab a few more pictures (as well as get some much-needed fecal samples and easy follows!)


































































































The bad news is that Luna's baby, Errol, went missing yesterday. I saw him the day before yesterday, but when I saw Luna yesterday afternoon, she didn't have Errol with her. He most likely was the victim of infanticide sometime during the night. Because the alpha male in a group sires the vast majority of infants, other adult males will kill newborn infants, because it brings the female back into estrus, and she's able to get pregnant again, so the other males will have another chance to sire offspring with that female.

When I first saw Luna without Errol, I was totally in denial. At first I thought maybe he was next to her belly and I just couldn't see him. Most of the time the infants will travel on the mom's back, and they are very obvious because it looks like the mom has on a little baby backpack. But occasionally they'll be nursing while the mom is moving, so they're harder to spot. But when Luna got closer, it was obvious that Errol was no where around. So, then I just thought that maybe she pawned him off on another adult for a little while. A few days prior I had seen Errol climb onto Albus (an adult male) while they were resting. But, the whole group was moving fairly fast and so it would be unlikely that Errol would be with someone else in that situation. A few minutes later I was doing a follow on Crabbe, and saw a bushy-browed female with a dorsal infant out of the corner of my eye, and thought it was Luna and that I had just made a mistake. I was so relieved. But after the follow I realized that the baby was too young to be Errol, and that I had seen Minerva, who just had a baby about a month ago. So, sadly, Errol is gone. I am really bummed out. From a scientific perspective, its all very interesting but personally I am sad. Its just a stupid reproductive strategy, I think. Such an enormous waste of energy. And I really like Luna. She's older, and has had a few babies, so I didn't think that this would happen to her. I wonder what she thinks about it all. I really do think that the moms must be emotionally attached to their babies (as I think all verebrate moms are) and that she must feel a sense of loss, and probably even sadness. And my heart goes out to her for that. But thank God Hufflepuff's okay. I would have a breakdown if anything happened to him. And there would be at least one male monkey with a couple broken legs.... Nobody messes with my Hufflepuff.

The monkeys also took me to a new place in the forest yesterday. Its the site of an old dam bridge from the farming days. A fig has taken it taken it over, and is growing in and around it in interesting ways. Its always an interesting feeling to come across human artifacts in the field. Its like a reminder, after being in the forest with only monkeys for 12 hours, that yes, there are still humans in the world. And always nice to be someplace I haven't been before.

Simple pleasures

My trail mix is so beautiful and makes me so happy. Mom's special recipe of Cheerios, peanuts, raisins, and M&Ms. Yuuuummmmm.