Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Come dance with me.


I have said it so often. You never cease learning about Howler Monkeys. There have been many studies of the Howler in the wild. Although I suspect that some of them have been written by workers who have never actually seen or heard one. But little or nothing has appeared concerning Howlers in captivity or semi captivity. Mañiña is a highly domesticated male, neutered Howler. We have provided him with a high-level domestic environment. By that, I mean that he sleeps in a bed, has his own blanket and pillow. He also has a hammock. He has access to parts of the house that are used by humans and his contact with us is lengthy during the day. He can choose whether he sleeps in the trees, in a washing machine, or on blankets in the house. He has unsuspected talents. I have heard of Capuchin Monkeys dancing to an organ grinders music but I have never before seen a Howler dance. This evening whilst I was playing with him, someone switched on the television. It so happened that it was tuned to a music station and modern dance music was being played at a high volume. Suddenly Mañiña began jumping up and down in time with the music. He had one hand on my shoulder for support during the dance. In common with most Howlers I have met, he destroys books and eats paper. I now have a very sad copy of Erasmus “Praise of Folly’. Mañiña has read and inwardly digested the front cover. Fortunately, the body of this paperback remains intact. The picture shows Mañiña in his hammock with various expressions. Name the expressions?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Manina looks like he is saying:
1. I am cute
2. Am I cuter than Shatow?
3. I am the cutest!
4. Ok, give me that banana!