Lala loves being brushed but what of me?

Our first picture shows Lala, our newest resident, relaxing in the sun, in her garden. The transition from new girl to resident did not take long. The first few days she was nervous and hardly interacted with the other monkeys at all. I was in some doubt about where to place her. The first couple of days I tried to introduce her to Eslabon, but this had to be aborted. He was terrified and just could not see that she was making friendly overtures.
A whole different scenario emerged when she was introduced to Schatov. They were immediately interested in each other. There is a big difference in their ages of course but this does not seem to deter them. She is obviously very fond of him and he shows her, in a macho way that he is interested. ‘Toy Boy’. She has settled in much quicker than I supposed and has already become a member of the community. Maniña shown in our second picture also shares this enclosure. He takes part in the games and they all sleep together at night. But clearly, in Lala’s eyes, Schatov is number one.

One interesting thing has come out of this. I heard that Lala likes being brushed. I obliged and indeed she loves it. She holds my hand a gently presses me to brush the places she wants brushed. Unfortunately Schatov, observing this activity, decided that he would also like to be brushed and then Maniña wanted this attention.

Foolishly I tried out the brushing idea with Totto and he loves it as well. Grooming is an important part of a monkey’s day. It also places the groomer and the groomee in their hierarchal positions.

I have got myself into an unplanned situation with this brushing and I now urgently need volunteers to help with this work. Otherwise my days of leisurely bogging and pursuit of things academic are numbered.