Get a Poop, Lose the Group

As a collector of behavioral data, you’re faced with a choice.  Do you snag that fecal sample and risk losing your monkey family, or do you pass on the poo this one time, purely to forestall the toilsome task of relocating said monkeys?  It’s a tough call.  Even if you opt for the feces, just this once, there’s always a possibility that you won’t be able to find it amongst the leaf litter…. then you’re out one fecal sample AND one group of Callicebus.  But then again, if you forego this particular #2, who’s to say there will be another opportunity?  Monkeys are not predictable poopers.  Really you could argue it either way.

This field season, my group has been characterized by their private pooping practices.  Gathering feces from these monkeys has been an arduous chore.  If I have the pleasure of watching them relieve themselves, it is 9-times-out-of-10 completely inaccessible (i.e. at the base of a tree completely surrounded by vines, on the other side of the fence, etc.).  As of last Friday morning, I had a total of four fecal samples.  Everyone else?  Oh yeah, like fifteen.  I had FOUR…that’s just depressing.  So on Friday, when my male did his business right above a wide open trail, leaving that tiny brown nugget in plain sight, I seized upon the opportunity to expand my collection.  Not five minutes later, my subadult followed suit.  I grabbed that one too.  No hesitation here.  I don’t care if I lose those monkeys anymore…I just want that poo!  Needless to say, I was thrilled.  It’s taken weeks to collect four samples, and now two in one day?!  It was a glorious moment. 

GN's subadult, Jasy

The day didn’t stop there.  A few hours pass, then both my male and female leave perfect little pellets in very attainable locations.  PRAISE JESUS!  I doubled my pre-Friday fecal samples!  Friday might have been my best field day yet.  FECES FOR THE WIN.

Female, Carmen, in her favorite Cecropia

So what’s the answer to the all-important poop v. group debate?  There isn’t one.  It’s completely situational…but given my current, relatively poopless, situation, I’d say poop is going to prevail these last few days.  


FUN SCIENCE FACT#22:  Lake Baikal in Russia is the deepest lake in the world, measuring 1620 m deep (at its deepest point).  It is also the world's oldest lake, estimated to be around 25 million years old. At over 636 km long and 80 km wide, this freshwater lake holds over 20% of all the fresh water in the world.  Definitely in the top 5 of my travel bucket list.

Monkey See, Monkey Do.

One of the cutest things a titi monkey will do is eat a mango.  Watching those furry little primates nibble away at such an ill-proportioned snack (big fruit/small monkey) can turn even the frowniest frown upside down.  So, of course, my stubborn monkeys had yet to choose that particular fruit as one of their mid-morning or late afternoon meals…..that is, until last week.  It was a Wednesday, it was 8:30 am, and I was hungry.  I reach into my bag and pull out a freshly ripened mango.  Clearly it’s mango season here in Santa Cruz.  Mangos are everywhere.  Mangos in the grocery store, mangos on the street corners, mangos in our backyard.  You can’t get mangos like this (and by that, I mean you can’t get mangos at these prices) back in the States, and I am taking full advantage of this mango crop.  Anyways, so I eat a mango in the field.  Right in front of my monkeys.  I watched them eat their not-so-tasty Sapotaceae fruits, and they watched me eat my mango.  Monkey heads were cocked, but all in all nothing too out of the ordinary, behaviorally speaking.

That was Wednesday.  What happens Thursday morning?  Those silly titis went straight to the neighborhood mango tree and feasted on fruits for about thirty minutes.  Now, I’m not going to take all the credit for pointing them in the direction of this new-found favorite treat, but it does seem eerily similar to a “monkey see/monkey do” type situation.  Like Wednesday they all got together and said, “Hey look there, she’s eating one of those fruits from that tree we never go to...maybe we should check it out.”  You’re welcome, titi monkeys. 

Resting after a mango feast

Whether or not it had anything to do with my mango-eating habits, I’m just excited it finally did happen.  I’VE BEEN WAITING THREE MONTHS FOR THIS.  Absolutely precious.  Monkeys and mangos…it doesn’t get much more adorable than that.  


FUN SCIENCE FACT #21:  The first turkey was domesticated in Mexico/Central Amerca.  Yes, I realize that fact leans more toward the fun than the science, but today is Thanksgiving....so you get a Thanksgiving fact.  Also you get my "what I am thankful for" list: family, friends, titi monkeys, mangos, and silpanchos (an American's Bolivian version of a Thanksgiving feast.  Hey, we work with what we've got here).  

My Fractured Female

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about my life in the primate world.  November has proven to be quite a busy month…it started out with a relaxing trip to the Amazon, but I came back to whirlwind two weeks of reassessing my entire life and working towards a new grad school goal.  Lots of emails were sent, lots of purpose statements were written, lots of sleep was lost.  But everything worked itself out…or at least, I think it will eventually work itself out.  It always/usually does. 

There is much to discuss.  So I'll start with my female.  About three and a half weeks ago, amid the “prodigal son” theatrics (that is, the return of GN’s subadult), my female injured her front left foot.  It could have happened during any of the altercations, but I believe it most likely occurred when the female/subadult scuffle caused the both of them to fall out of the tree and on to the ground.  Since this incident, I have noticed many changes in my female’s personality, as well as the group dynamic.

GN's beautiful female, Carmen

Pre-injury, my female was clearly the leader of her pack.  She was the one guiding the rest of the group to new resting trees or foraging trees...always squeaking, hinting for her family to hurry up and join her.  Now GN has no real leader. Sometimes it’s the male, other times it’s the subadult (who has been with the group everyday since he returned), even the little juvenile led GN this past week.  The female however, now hangs towards the back, struggling to keep up.

Holding up her injured foot.

She is completely unable to use her front left foot.  She lifts it up and carries it close to her chest when she walks, not letting it touch the branch.  She doesn’t use it to feed, nor does she use it to groom herself or the others.  I was thinking that eventually she would regain her four-legged locomotion, but it seems that this handicap might become permanent.  Slowly, but surely, her speed and agility is increasing; she is adjusting to life without one foot.  It obviously impairs her everyday activities, but not to the point that she has stopped eating or stopped nursing.  Sill eating? Still nursing?  Yeah, I think she’ll be just fine.  It is slightly heartbreaking to watch my female hobble through the canopy, but she is a fiery, tenacious little monkey, and I have a feeling this won’t hold her back for long.  

Cuddling with her man (L to R: Juvenile, Female, Male)

FUN SCIENCE FACT #20: The largest frog in the world is the Goliath Frog (Conraua goliath) of West Africa.  It can grow as long as 33 cm (13 inches) and weigh as much as 3 kg (8 lbs).  

So Easy, A Caiman Could Do It

This past weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to sneak away from the real world and head to the Amazon with my fellow titi monkey researcher/roommate, Anna.  Let me tell you right up front that it was one of the best experiences of my life.

We left Santa Cruz late on Wednesday night.  It was hot.  And we were leaving Santa Cruz on a non-air conditioned semi-sleeper bus full of other hot and sweaty people.  Trust me when I say it's not comfortable...for your body or for your nose.  But it was cheap (like $10 cheap) and it was getting us where we needed to go.  Plus we were so so excited that I don't think we cared HOW we got there as long as we DID get there.  Nine-ish hours later - around 6:30 am - we arrived in Trinidad, a small city in the Beni region of Bolivia.  Located at the southern edge of the Amazon basin, Trinidad is the city of motorcycles.  Everyone rides motorcycles.  Sometimes five at a time.  No one wears helmets.  Trinidad is also very hot and very humid.  We realized this very quickly...pretty much right when we stepped off the bus.  At this point, we had two hours to kill before we could meet up with our tour group and officially start our Amazonian adventure.  There were three initial goals: pee, find the plaza (the center of every Bolivian city), and find some food.  Our first goal was accomplished relatively quickly, although we did have to spare a few bolivianos (Bolivian moneys) for the use of some very sub-par facilities.  But after all night on a bus with no bathroom....it was worth it.  Our second goal was also quickly accomplished, thanks to our map, our resourcefulness, and our "oh let's just follow that other gringo" method.  That method never fails.  It was then, in the plaza, that we met up with one of Trinidad's adorable plaza sloths.  There are actually a few Bradypus variegatus that inhabit this plaza, most at the tops of the trees away from view.  Lucky for us, this one was at perfect picture-taking height...even though we could have easily paid a small Bolivian child B$5 (about US$0.70) to climb a tree and fetch it for us.  But I'm more a fan of just letting the sloths be sloths.

Mama sloth and her precious baby.

Seriously close to that sloth.

Goal #3 was slightly more difficult.  One, because Trinidad isn't exactly known for it's top notch cuisine.  Two, because nothing is open at 6:30 am.  No worries though, we found a room full of bread vendors.

Here's the honest truth: I could go into lot and lots of details about every single minute of every day, but nobody would read that.  Solely based on the fact that it would be novel-length.  Except maybe my mom...she would read it.  So I'll give you my brief, yet thorough, Amazon play-by-play.

Day 1 (continued):  We met up with some new German friends.  For some reason, I've met lots of Germans in Bolivia.  They all seem to vacation here.  So these two German girls, in addition to a very adorable Ecuadorian man, a very stylish man from Luxembourg, and a hilarious Belgian woman, would join us for the next few days on our river boat cruise.  It was an odd, yet somehow perfect, mix of people.

Germans in a boat.

Made our way to our "posh" riverboat.  It was big....and comfy.  Especially compared to the leaky cave I occupied during my Galapagos tour last summer.

Our first adventure was a trip to a local fishing community.  Life there (and in the region, in general) is very different.  Girls are married at 12 or 13 and usually have about two kids before they're 15.  Life is simple.  They live under blue tarps and attend school under a mango tree.

Adventure #2:  FIND SOME RIVER DOLPHINS!  I love river dolphins and it was so incredible to see them in the wild.  So glad I got some pictures (these were NOT easy pictures to get)!  The Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), also known as the bufeo, boutu, or pink dolphin, differs from a grey dolphin in color and in its lack of dorsal fin.  It instead has a slight hump on its back.  These cetaceans are also able to turn their heads 180 degrees, due to their unfused cervical vertebrae.

Plus I got to see some capybaras!  My favorite rodents.  Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris is the largest rodent in the world...closely related to the agouti and the guinea pig.  These semi-aquatic, coprophagic "water pigs" live mostly along riverbanks and feed on a select few grasses and aquatic plants.  Also they're really cute.

That was all Day 1.

Day 2:  We started the morning with a 4 hour jungle hike (Adventure #3).  I love hikes and I love jungles, so it was perfect.  Lots of cool trees.  Lots of cool flowers.  We were hoping for a sloth or an anteater, but unfortunately neither were spotted.  Thus is nature, though.  You never really know what you'll find along the way.

Hey I like trees there's nothing wrong with that.

Adventure #4: Piranha fishing!  Obviously if you visit the Amazon you have to fish for some piranhas.  And how do you catch a piranha??  With huge chunks of raw meat.

 Anna and I were unsuccessful for a long time.  Smart little fishes kept eating our bait.

Anna with her empty hook... :(

But I finally caught one!  Happiest moment of my life.  I really wanted to hold it by the gills (ya know, for that awesome "look at my piranha" facebook profile picture).  Our guide was hesitant.  I wanted to reassure him that I totally had that situation under control, but I didn't know how to say, "Don't worry, I'm a trained ichthyologist" in Spanish.

Eventually a successful day!

Day 3:  Jungle hike?  Check.  So what's next?  Jungle horseback riding (Adventure #5).  Now I've only ever been horseback riding once in my entire life.  And that was like 10 years ago.  I honestly had no idea what I was doing....but I caught on pretty quick.  A lot of walking, a little trotting, a little running and I was hooked. So. Much. Fun.

Friends on horses.

Adventure #6:  Remember yesterday's piranhas?  Oh yeah we totally ate those for lunch.  Looks delicious, no?

Piranha soup.

Yummy.

Adventure #7:  The best adventure yet...searching for caimans.  Caimans are relatively small crocodilians, one of the two subfamilies in the family Alligatoridae (the other being alligators).  Caiman-hunting is a nighttime escapade, involving just a few people, a small boat, and a flashlight.  Shine the flashlight at the bank -> look for red eyes -> get closer and try to snatch a caiman.  That's pretty much how it goes.  At first, we were unsuccessful...at least with the caimans.  We did catch a funny little bird though. He kept making all sorts of strange noises, but he was pretty cute.

And then finally a caiman!  Just what I wanted!!  This "little" guy was only about 6 months old.  I thought he was precious.  By this time out guide had figured out that Anna and I were ecologists, so he let us thoroughly examine our specimen. And by that I mean he let us play with it tail and it's feet and pet it as much as we wanted.  I love those tiny caiman feet.

Right after I got my caiman picture (still nestled close to both the caiman and our Bolivian guide), there was a minor slip of the tail.  Caught off guard, our guide let go of the caiman's back end, causing the tail to whack me right in the face.  RIGHT IN THE FACE.  I GOT HIT IN THE FACE WITH A CAIMAN TAIL.  The front end of our crocodilian was then released from it's grip, and we had a caiman on the loose in a very small boat.  The Germans in the back seat weren't too happy about it.  I thought it was hilarious.  And very entertaining.  Nothing like an untethered, sharp-toothed reptile to get your blood pumping!

Day 4:  A rather lazy morning, when compared to our other days.  Adventure #8 was a leisurely boat ride down a smaller tributary; our eyes peeled for any kind of wildlife.  Plenty of water fowl, a few turtles, and of course some monkeys.

Adventure #9:  After docking, we encountered an elderly local woman and her pet capuchin, Martin.  Martin was rescued as an infant when his mother was killed - that's great.  What's not great is keeping a monkey chained to a tree all day with no toys or other stimulation.  MONKEYS ARE NOT PETS.  Nonetheless, Martin and I had a nice photo shoot.

We then made a quick walk through the jungle to a small lagoon.  Canoe trip included.  Found some great treasures along the way: snail shell, caiman mandible, caiman skull, huge fish skeleton.

Then it was back to the boat and back to Trinidad.  A minor time crunch to make it to our flota (flota = long distance bus), but Anna, our two German friends, and myself all boarded the bus for Santa Cruz around 7:30 pm.  Thank God we were able to snag a full-out sleeper bus for the ride home.  Bigger seats, comfier seats, plus a nice big window for a perfect breeze.

Beautiful Amazon sunset.

I've said it once and I'll say it again: best four days of my life.


FUN SCIENCE FACT #19: The brain of a river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) is 40% larger than a human brain.

The Prodigal Son

The day started off relatively normal.  GN’s male and female vocalized, as usual, towards GE, and then advanced across the fence of Yvaga Guazu.  This has become the typical morning routine.  Wake up…talk a little bit with the neighbors…maybe eat a Lauraceae fruit or two…then head off to where Leanna can’t follow.  So they lost me right around 7:30 AM.  Only 15 minutes later, my male, female, and juvenile all came back into Yvaga Guazu and moved towards one of their favorite resting trees (dubbed Lazy Tree #1).  Seemed a little soon to be back in the park, but these monkeys are always throwing me for a loop.  At 7:55, only ten minutes after arriving back within view, a strange monkey approached the group.  Now, we’ve encountered strange monkeys before, but we have NEVER encountered strange monkeys here.  All the other titis tend to stay towards the back of the park in the more forested area (minus GE), whereas this individual approached from the exact opposite direction.  At first, my female merely arched her back, but then she chased the strange monkey at full speed to a tree about 50 m away, with the male and juvenile following close behind.  By the time I got to this new tree, all four monkeys (male, female, juvenile, plus the stranger) were all sitting in close proximity and showing no aggressive behavior.  Weird.  Since just like ten seconds ago I was witnessing the titi equivalent to a high-speed chase.  I’ve honestly never seen my monkey family run so fast.  About a minute or so later, the group of four made their way back towards Lazy Tree #1 to rest.  At 8:10 AM, all four were tail twined.  It was at this point that I realized this strange monkey had to be one of GN’s subadults.  Why else would the group dynamic change so quickly?  There’s no way a total stranger would be accepted into a quadruple tail twine in such a short time period.  So if this is one of my GN subadults (most likely the younger of the two older offspring, 3 year old Jasy), which I really believe it is, how/why was he on the other side of the fence?  My normal family – male/female/juvenile – crosses that fence almost every day, and not once have I seen this other monkey nearby.  The only times I have seen the two older brothers, I was in the back of GN territory, which is the complete other extreme to Lazy Tree #1.  Also, why did the female react aggressively at first?  Was she just caught off guard by the unexpected approach or did she not even recognize him? 

Around 8:30 AM, all four were resting close, but nobody seemed very relaxed.  You could cut that monkey tension with a knife.  Occasionally the subadult would move away temporarily, and the juvenile would follow him.  The juvenile would then spend the next few minutes going back and forth between the subadult and the male, as if he was unsure whom he was supposed to sit by or where he was supposed to go.  It was during one of these momentary family separations that the juvenile, who was carrying the infant, moved towards the subadult and passed off GN’s newest addition to his older brother.  Even further confirmation that this was, indeed, a member of the GN family.  The subadult carried the infant for only a minute or so before bringing it back to the male.  The notes from my field book accurately describe the situation as an “awkward family reunion.”

At 9:00 AM, completely out of the blue, my male and subadult began to fight.  The male chased the subadult all throughout Lazy Tree #1 and then across the fence to a group of taller trees.  The female followed closely, arching her back as the male and subadult battled it out relatively high in the canopy.  The brawl was momentarily suspended when the subadult fell out of the tree FROM LIKE 15 METERS UP.  Needless to say I was sure I had a monkey carcass on my hands.  A brief, but triumphant Type 1 vocalization from the male and female, and then they made their way back to the lazy tree.  The subadult followed.  More fighting from the male and subadult – hitting, tail pulling, etc. – and a little more chasing, but each time the male tried to call it quits, the subadult would follow.  After about 10 minutes, the whole group was back to resting.  Just like that.  The male, female, and juvenile all tail twined, with the subadult only 5 m away.   An approach by the subadult, now touching the juvenile, but no aggression from either party.

9:20 AM.  Ten whole minutes of hostile-free behavior.  Subadult approached and initiated a quadruple tail twine.  No big deal right?  They totally did that earlier.  Well this time the male was not having it….at all.  Just seconds after the twine, the male once again chased the subadult across the road towards the taller trees, once again they fought, and once again the subadult followed the male back to Lazy Tree #1.  The subadult then tried to fight the female, but the male intervened.  Good for you!  Defending your lady’s honor.  Fighting, chasing, fighting, chasing, fighting, and then they were done.  At 9:25 AM, the subadult slowly moved near the male and female, to within about 1 m of the duo.  Then it got weird. 

            9:26 Subadult slowly laid down on the branch at the feet of the male/female

            9:27 Subadult arched his back and squeaked at the male/female

            9:28 Subadult slowly laid down, again right at the feet of the male/female

            9:29 Subadult arched back

            9:30 Subadult slowly laid down

9:31 Subadult arched back

            9:32 Subadult slowly laid down

What is this?  Is he showing aggression and then immediately performing submissive behavior?  Whatever it was, it was repeated multiple times.  The family then rested for another 20 minutes, with the subadult tail twined with the juvenile.  Speaking of the juvenile, during each of these “instances,” he hightailed it out of there.  Probably his best bet.  Definitely don’t want to get in the middle of that family drama.  It was also during this 9:20 encounter that my female injured one of her front feet.  She spent the next half hour limping through the branches, struggling to keep close to her man. 

As 10:13 AM rolled around, I witnessed a third chase scene from GN’s male and subadult, who again ran to the taller trees across the road.  The female did not follow this time, most likely due to her wounded foot.  The male returned, with the subadult behind at a reasonable distance.  This seems to be a trend. 

10:27 AM another male/subadult chase performance.  This time, however, they remained in the lazy tree.  Guess it’s not so lazy anymore.  The female also got in on the action, fighting with the subadult.  Hand-to-hand titi combat at its most intense.  The female and subadult then fell off of their branch, momentarily catching themselves on a large limb, before falling the rest of the way to the ground.  My male was freaking out.  He immediately descended the tree, calling to the female, and waiting for a response.  A few seconds later, the female and subadult came racing up a nearby tree, where the male took over chasing duty from the female.  The male held the subadult in a monkey headlock for about 30 seconds before releasing him and returning to, and then tail twining with, the female.  Another few repetitions of the subadult arched back/slow lay down routine, and then at 10:37 AM, the subadult approached the male and female and remained in close proximity. 

A few minutes later, the juvenile returned.  And all four rested, tail twined, and most likely napped for the rest of the morning.  I mean seriously…these monkeys had to be exhausted.  Their normal schedule calls for mid-morning naps even without multiple scuffles, so I imagine even after I left them around 12:30, they remained on that branch for a few more hours. 

Moral of the story: not every prodigal son is welcomed with a fatted calf. 

FUN SCIENCE FACT #18: The water bear (Tardigrade) can survive environments extreme enough to kill any other animal - with temperatures as low as -273°C (close to absolute zero) to as high as 151°C.

These are not the monkeys I'm looking for...

Last week, I thrice encountered an unfamiliar titi group.  The first two times I saw them, there were two individuals: one larger and with more red coloration, the other smaller and more grey.  Then on Saturday, when I located them for the third time, I noticed an additional group member.  As previously mentioned (see True Life: I’m a Scientist), my original thought was that I had come across the remaining GN offspring.  But I ruled against that due to the display of aggressive behavior.  And now, with the appearance of a third strange monkey – similar in size to the larger individual, but much less red – I’m even more confident in saying that this group is not my GN leftovers.  My second thought was that this group might be G4, GN’s neighbors towards the back of Yvaga Guazu.  We know that G4 has a baby this season, so when I didn’t see any of the individuals carrying an infant, I opted out of the G4 theory.  Other than GN and G4, there really aren’t any other titi groups that occupy that area.  So who are they?  That’s a very important question.  That’s also a question for which I do not currently have the answer.

Today, when I couldn’t find GN, I decided to seek out these unknown titis, hoping to gather some photographic evidence to support my non-GN claim.  And I found them.  Resting atop a viney thicket in their most recent vocalizing vicinity.  There are definitely at least three members in the group.  Maybe four, but because of their location and the position of the sun, it was difficult to judge accurately.  I also noticed an infant climbing in and around the vines.  It’s possible that I just didn’t notice the infant when I saw them last week, but it’s also possible that the infant was with this fourth group member (that is, if I’m correct in my assessment).  They didn’t seem scared or timid or bothered by me at all, with the smaller monkey - definitely a juvenile – even coming down to a lower limb to get a closer look at me.

Just a few of these unfamiliar titis.

These past two days have been afternoon shifts, which tend to be quiet and relatively uneventful (lots of resting, little bit of foraging).  Tomorrow morning I’ll be interested to see if GN and these other titis engage in another vocal bout similar to last week.  Maybe this group is why my GN family is spending more time away from that area.  But then, why would I just now be noticing this strange group?  And why would the aggressive behaviors have just started?  Now that I’ve seen an infant, is this actually G4?

FUN SCIENCE FACT #17:  Porcupines float in water.  

True Life: I'm a Scientist

Spotted my monkey family right away this morning.  A quick meal on some Cecropia fruits, then a few jumps across one of the main trails before moving deeper into the foresty half of their territory.  Typical AM routine.  Today, however, my male and female ventured further than usual...it's not unheard of for them to visit these trees, but I typically find them much closer to the trail.  After following them for only a few minutes, a strange male (I'm assuming it's a male due to it's copper coloration) titi approached my group, followed closely by another smaller, grayer individual.  The reddish male displayed an arched back - a classic sign of titi aggression - and my male, female, and juvenile hastily retreated.  Around 6:10 AM, the two unidentified titis began to vocalize, and GN's male and female responded at 6:15 AM with a little "waka waka" type call.  Only a few minutes into their vocalization, my male began to move towards the strange monkeys.  The female followed, but the juvenile stayed behind (which was to be expected...since my juvenile rarely, if ever, vocalizes with his parents).  Both groups terminated the bouts around 6:19 AM, ending only about 5 m from each other.  A arched back from my male sent them running.  Clearly these titi groups are staking claim to their territory, but who are these two other monkeys?  I actually ran into these two yesterday morning while on the search for my own group.  I've mentioned before that GN's two older offspring are normally separate from their parents and baby siblings, so naturally my first impression was that I had come across GN's lost boys.  After today I'm convinced these two are not them.  Why would there be aggressive behavior displayed within the family unit?  The few times I have seen the subadults interact with my normal group (male, female, juvenile), the behaviors were anything but aggressive.  In one instance, they joined forces to vocalize and defend GN territory.  If these two are my other offspring - which I still very much doubt - it would be strange to witness such a drastic change in temperament in such a relatively short time.

For about the next thirty minutes, my male/female duo and my nameless monkey pair vocalized back and forth.  And evidently they worked out all that needed to be worked, because long about 6:45 AM, my female led her male and juvenile back across the main trail towards the landscaped portion of their territory, away from these intruders.  Vocalizing along the way, GN led me to the other territorial extreme, where my male and female continued to call in the direction of GE (a neighboring titi family).  Before this week, I would've told you that was weird.  But after a brief scuffle with GE on Wednesday, I have a feeling GN vocalizing in GE's general direction will become the norm.

Male, juvenile, and female

After securing all borders, my male, female, and juvenile settled down to feed on some Lauraceae fruits and some red Fabaceae flowers.  A busy morning full of odd encounters and twice as much vocalizing is exhausting, so my titi family spent the rest of the morning lounging around in some of their usual resting trees.  The female nursed the infant, the male groomed the female, and the juvenile played with the male.  Just another day in the life.  Also, watching my male and juvenile play is absolutely precious.  Our little infant even got in on the playing action.  Slowly, but surely, that tiny monkey is becoming more and more curious and independent.  It's no longer unusual to find the little one resting on the branch next to mom and dad (as opposed to resting on the male's back), or climbing around and exploring the nearby branches.

Male with infant

My days are full of monkey adventures.  I love it.  Well...I don't love not being able to find my monkeys some days, and I also don't love the 40+ bug bites I found on my legs this afternoon.  Just another perk of field work!  Today is my official 7 week-iversary...which means I have reached the halfway point of my Bolivian journey.  Time is flying.  To my titi family - let's savor these last few weeks together.  I'll miss your furry faces when I'm gone.  And to my beautiful basset Rosie - I miss you so much!  But don't worry, I'll be home soon.  And then we can cuddle, and go on long walks, and cuddle some more, and eat string cheese together.  And then after that we can cuddle.

LOVE AND MISS YOU ROSIE!  SEE YOU SOON!

FUN SCIENCE FACT #16: The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds. It's okay chickens, you're good at other things...