Miss Billy is on the way

It is worth noting the improvement in Miss Billy's health. She came to us just on two months ago. She was suffering from a severe case of Ricketts. The treatment has been fairly large doses of calcium every day together with lots of sunshine and TLC.(Tender Loving Care).
We setup low level bamboo walkways for her, so she was able to get around the enclosure and get to the sunny spots without the danger of falling. At that time she was nervous and slow in getting around on the bamboo.
She is not yet completely cured but she now negotiates the bamboo with speed and confidence and is quite clever manipulating the ropes.
Her physical appearance has also improved. Her back is less curved and her walk is almost normal. Unfortunately nothing can be done about the lost teeth in the front of her mouth, presumably ripped out to prevent this tiny soul from biting.
I also see an improvement mentally. She is now more inclined to mix with the others and is quite friendly with Tutti and Maniñia. She still has a long way to go but she is on the way.

Lucio meets some new friends.

Lucio arrived yesterday afternoon with his family. As you can see from the photograph he is very handsome. He is in good health with a fine coat.
Lucio is one and half years old. He is his family’s darling. He showed real grief when he was parted from them. I know they will miss this little boy but they have done the right thing. Here at Canaote he will learn to be a monkey and soon have a lot of monkey friends. There is no doubt that he is sad. He feels this lost for the second time. We have a few challenging days ahead of us. His loss will be uppermost in his mind for some days. I have seen this situation many times. The more the monkey was loved, the harder the parting. The good news is that time heals. He will never forget his human family. But he will soon learn to live his own life among his own people.
Last night he shared quarters with me and Miss Nancy. He was really too unhappy to enjoy her company. Today he has begun to get used to his new home. He is eating well and tonight promises to be a little easier.
Earlier yesterday afternoon, he showed his intelligence by breaking out of Eslabon’s garden. He is the first monkey to find a flaw in the fence. Some great minds have tried. For example, Maniña has spent many hours looking for a way out. Tomorrow the staff will repair the escape route and Lucio will be able to return there for the afternoon.

Why is she such a loner?

Somehow Maniña is always in the news these days. Maybe it’s because he is a very attractive monkey. You remember that he fell out of favor with Lala. We had to close the partition between their enclosures. We have yet to try to reconcile these good people. In the meantime, I was concerned because Maniña was lonely. Howlers hate being alone and even less like sleeping alone. We decided on a new daily routine for him. Now, he has breakfast in his own enclosure. Then he visits Eslabon. You may remember that Miss Billy also visits Eslabon in the daytime, to take advantage of his lovely garden and laze on the sunny branches. Late afternoon just as the sun is going down; he goes back to his own enclosure. At this time Miss Billy moves to my quarters in preparation for the night. At about suppertime, Maniña joins her in my quarters. I hope that was not too complicated. Up to this time Miss Billy has not been very sociable. She sleeps in her box and Maniña sleeps alongside me. Last night I had cause to get up during the night and when I returned I found the two of them sharing her box. Every day I find Miss Billy beginning to come out of her shell. She is learning to be a monkey. I just wish I had more information about her past. Why is she to frightened? Why is she such a loner? Then perhaps I would be able to understand her fears and help her overcome them.

A busy weekend ahead.

This is Friday night and the weekend approaches and it promises to be a busy time. We have been in preparation for the arrival of two monkeys this weekend. Lucio is a Howler monkey and we also expect Pablito. But I will tell you more about them when they arrive.

Pablito needs a little explanation because he is a Capuchin monkey.

ARFA Animal Rescue Association had a facility at ‘Hidra Finca’ near Las Vagas. The management decided not to continue operation in that location, although of course the organization carries on its great work of education and support.
ARFA ‘Hidra’ has closed down. The upshot has been that there is now a vacuum in facility for care of Capuchin Monkeys. Hidra’s special service was the preparation of groups of Capuchin monkeys for release into the wild. Hidra ARFA carried out this program successfully for many years. We at Canaote were able to assist this program on one major occasion. We cared for a group of five Capuchin monkeys for about 6 months whilst their release facility was being prepared. This was an interesting time here and we were able to meet several human families who wanted their monkeys released into the wild. Many of those people are still correspondents and visitors to us to this day. The group that was prepared here was successfully released by ARFA at Hidra and we have had reports of their good integration into the wild.
At Canaote we do not provide a release program. Instead we are a shelter facility. I have written about this difference in approach several times on this blog. We have space for a small number of capuchins. We decided to do this when we heard that ARFA ‘Hidra’ was no longer able to provide a release service. Our capacity is small, a maximum of five Capuchin monkeys. We will be looking for some support for this. Clearly five Capuchins are going to be quite demanding of food and Veterinary support and helpers.

We have constructed a special house for Pablito. Like our former Capuchins, he is to share a location with green parrots and Macaws. The house we have designed for Pablito has a special revolving door. This door should prevent the birds from invading his house. The additional problem about integrating monkey and bird is feeding. Pablito’s food tray is situated just outside the enclosure, on a corner, where he can reach it with easy but the birds cannot.

Brushing

I have mentioned ‘brushing’ several times recently. There is no doubt that all our monkeys love it. They regard this as grooming. It is an important event for them and is much a communication among them as speech is to humans. Monkeys also express affection and make peace with others by grooming each other. Although grooming helps monkeys keep their fur clean of dirt, dead skin, and parasites, it also helps them to build and maintain good social relationships. Grooming seems to be a way to make up after fighting, or to make friends with other troop members. The howler monkey’s fur is more complex that you might think at first sight. The Apple like head is parted in two directions. The forehead hair is parted backwards towards the body, whereas the hair at the rear of the skull goes forward. This leaves a line of demarcation somewhere in the center of the head from ear to ear.
The direction of the hair on the howlers back goes from head to tail. The direction of the hair on the arms changes at the elbow. The forearm hair goes downwards towards the hands but the hair from the wrist to the elbow going upwards.
The hair on the legs, both above and below the knee goes downward towards the feet.
I have thought about the purpose of these changes in direction. One possibility is, to allow the excess juice from fruit to flow away down the arm rather than be impeded by hair. This picture of Totto shows very clearly the parting of hair on the scalp and the change in direction of hair on the upper and lower arm.

Relationships are dynamic

I suppose it is inevitable that during the years of bloging the activity in our center that I should occasionally repeat myself. Ours is a dynamic society, where the relationships between monkeys can change. Just as when we at first believed that the friendship between Schatov and Emma was permanent, she changed that by rejected him. The truth is that we chose Emma and Schatov’s relationship. Finally they gave their judgment on our opinion. This time Lala has had a choice and she has chosen Schatov. They spend many hours together grooming and Maniña has been rejected. Yesterday he had a bad day. Realizing that Lala wanted to be alone with Schatov, we attempted to introduce MonaLisa to Maniña in a neutral enclosure. That is to say that the enclosure was new to both, no one monkey could claim a territorial right to it.
At first she moved subtly in his direction, from where she could observe him. Finally she approached him directly in a very aggressive way. Puffed up and ready for attack. I terminated the interview.
I returned Maniña to his own enclosure, the one he shares with Lala and Schatov. Again he had a bad greeting. Lala behaved in the same way as MonaLisa, She attacked him and only my presence prevented an actual fight. The outcome is that they are now segregated with Schatov and Lala in one area and Maniña in another.
Is there an explanation? Maniña is a big, very masculine looking monkey Do the girls recognize that Maniña has been neutered? I am looking for an answer to this problem. For the time being Maniña is alone and that is not a good thing. He gets the consolation prize. He is allowed to stay overnight with me. We have several newcomers on the horizon and I am hoping that one of them might be a suitable companion for Maniña. There is a chance that Miss Billy will suit but she is still in treatment for her Rickets. So that will have to wait a while. Miss Billy has a very pronounce curvature of her backbone as well as other deformed bone structure although she is normal in every other way. She is a charming little lady. My opinion is that it would be unwise to allow her to become a mother. Perhaps Maniña is a blessing in disguise for her. We will see. In the meantime Maniña is getting a lot of attention from me.
Our photograph is Maniña with a branch of leaves