An exciting afternoon.

Lots of pictures this evening. What beautiful hands Schatov has! Howlers are not known for great dexterity with their hands but Schatov makes up for this with very long and elegant fingers. But that is not all because he uses them with unhowlerlike ability. Given a piece of chicken, he will hold it in both hands, turn it and select the best parts to eat first. He has learned skills that wild monkeys do not have. You see him here in the photograph, resting only momentarily in the hammock before throwing himself back into the fray.
Lucio has been very mischievous today. And you can read the mischief in his face in our picture. First grabbing my hat and making off to the other side of the enclosure with it and then returning, without it, to pull my hair. Finally I had to chase him around the hammock to get my hat back. He deposited it under a pile of balls in the hammock, hoping I suppose that I would not see it.

Moñito has been equally active. When the melee started he joined in and regardless of his small size, was in there with the big boys.
All together it was an exciting afternoon with hats and balls flying. I finally retired exhausted. They looked triumphant.

A hammock full of balls

I really was not going to write about Maniña today but seeing this recent photograph of him posing in the hammock alongside the plastic colored balls, reminded me that I hadn't mentioned this new addition to the games we have provided in the enclosures. Howler monkeys are slow moving people when in their natural environment in the forest. They are known to sleep the greater part of the day and the rest of it spent slowly munching leaves. But when in semi captivity they exhibit different behavior. Their food here is much more concentrated and available so less time is needed for obtaining food. They are much more active and seek opportunity for play. The ropes and walkways we provide are very much in use and the children display athleticism which is virtually unknown in the wild. Most games appear to be preparation for fight or flight. The pseudo war and aggressive noises we see and hear are all with that purpose. Recently the family of Lucio provided colored plastic balls and had the idea of placing them inside a hammock. Howler's have extremely sensitive color vision so the balls have been very attractive to them. This has proved to be a very successful game. The children love to launch themselves into a hammock full of balls then jump up and down until all the balls have fallen to the ground. Great fun for the monkeys but dismay for the poor helper that has to enter the enclosure many times a day to replace the balls. This has been such a successful play that we have installed hammocks and balls in all the enclosures and they love it.

To err is human, to forgive divine.

Our photographs today show Eslabon on the bamboo walkway and Tutti in the hammock.

Eslabon is a very gentle and loving monkey. He is second in the hierarchy of which Maniña is the chief, Eslabon being much smaller and younger. He loves to sit with me and demands my attention when ever I enter their garden. He has been ‘big brother’ to Tutti who needed someone to care for him and a friend to sleep alongside at night. Eslabon and Tutti are great friends and Eslabon really does look out for him.
When Tutti first came to us, he was suffering from a vicious mite attack which affected his tail and his forehead. To the observer he looked like a Gregorian monk. We treated this condition with a suitable shampoo and his hair was rapidly restored. In recent weeks we have noticed a thinning of hair on his scalp but not the same pattern as before. To treat this, we first needed to identify the cause. I had to take a sample of hair from Tutti's head. This involved applying a piece of sellotape or sticky transparent tape to his head to obtain a sample that is capable of being examined under the microscope. This process is momentarily uncomfortable and naturally Tutti was agitated and cried out. At that moment Eslabon was on my shoulder. He was angered by my apparent attack on his friend and made to bite my ear. I quickly pushed Eslabon to one side to avoid the bite. In the process Eslabon left my shoulder in a slightly undignified way. He was furious. This all happened several weeks ago. Since that time, Eslabon's attitude to me has been very different. No longer would he seek my company when I entered the enclosure. I could see that there was some conflict. He wanted to be with me because I could hear him saying so but his pride would not let him approach me. Gradually, as the weeks have gone by he has come back to me. I am not sure that he has forgotten, but I have been forgiven. He is again ‘Daddies Boy' and sits with me for long periods. As for Tutti, the infection has cleared up and there is now some strong new hair.

All people commit sins and make mistakes. God forgives them, and people are acting in a godlike (divine) way when they forgive. This saying is from “An Essay on Criticism,” by Alexander Pope.

In the forest, danger lurks.

From the last posting, it is clear that danger lurks in the forest and that wild life can be a reservoir of diseases. Here in Venezuela, Yellow Fever is endemic among wild monkeys. Outbreaks of the disease sometimes explodes in the forest. Sometimes it is not clear what has caused the mortalities. This rainy season there were many deaths, strangely among large healthy looking Howler monkeys but clinical investigations failed to identify the cause. This could be just the old Yellow Fever with a modified strain or Dengue Fever. Perhaps a completely new assault is brewing in the forest. However, it is not only virus which is a danger. Many types of pathogenic parasite grow in water and in the soil. These are a danger to humans and monkeys. The whole range of zoonotic diseases exists in the forest.
Our facility borders on fairly deep forest. We are ever conscious of our closeness to nature and the possible dangers that lurk there.
Recently, we installed a sophisticated digital microscope system and equipped it with all the stains and samples to enable us to identify protozoa/ parasite infestation. We obtained the equipment from the 2K microscope manufacturing company in Germany. They also supplied us with a collection of sample parasite slides, to enable us to identify parasites.

We reported that Sophie returned to us from the forest as a sick child. Even though when she escaped into the forest, she had been in good health. Using the microscope, we were readily able to identify cysts of giardia lamblia, a parasite which is pathogenic and the probable cause of her sickness. Under veterinary guidance we were able, at once to commence treatment. The first results are in and Sophie is indicating very strong signs of recovery.
The danger of zoonotic disease cannot be overstated. Capturing wild monkeys and birds from the forest is not only immoral and wrong but also dangerous. Bringing an animal who may be a carrier of disease into a human environment is cavalier in the extreme, with the health of the individual concerned and their family. From there the disease can spread into the general population. The message is plain; leave these children where they belong, in the forest.

What we all knew now science confirms it

A detailed map highlighting the world's hotspots for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) has been released.
It uses data spanning 65 years and shows the majority of these new diseases come from wildlife.
Scientists say conservation efforts that reduce conflicts between humans and animals could play a key role in limiting future outbreaks.
Writing in Nature, they said their map revealed that global anti-EID resources had been poorly allocated in the past.
Researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and the US-based University of Georgia and Columbia University's Earth Institute analysed 335 emerging diseases from 1940 to 2004.
They then used computer models to see if the outbreaks correlated with human population density or changes, latitude, rainfall or wildlife biodiversity.
Finally, the data was plotted on to maps to reveal the "hotspots" around the globe.
Healthy environment
"Our analysis highlights the critical importance of conservation work," said co-author Dr Kate Jones, a research fellow for ZSL.
"Conserving areas rich in biodiversity from development may be an important means of preventing the emergence of new diseases."
The researchers found that 60% of EID events were caused by "non-human animal" sources.
They add that 71% of these outbreaks were "caused by pathogens with a wildlife source".

If we continue to ignore this important preventative measure, then human populations will continue to be at risk from pandemic diseases

Dr Peter Daszak,
Wildlife Trust
Among the examples listed by the team was the emergence of Nipah virus in Malaysia and the Sars outbreak in China.
Others included the H5N1 strain of bird flu, Ebola and West Nile virus.
The number of events that originated from wild animals had increased significantly over time, they warned.
"This supports the suggestion that zoonotic EIDs represents an increasing and very significant threat to global health," the paper's authors wrote.
They added that it also highlighted the need to understand the factors that lead to increased contact between wildlife and humans.
"We are crowding wildlife into ever smaller areas, and human population is increasing," explained Dr Marc Levy, a global change expert at Columbia University's Earth Institute.
"Where those two things meet, that is the recipe for something crossing over."
He added that the main sources were mammals that were most closely related to humans.
'Missing the point'
While some pathogens may be picked up while hunting or by accident, others - such as Nipah virus - are transmitted to humans from wild animals via livestock.
Because humans had not evolved resistance to these EIDS, the scientists said that the results could be "extraordinarily lethal".
The main hotspots were located in low latitude regions, like South Asia and South-East Asia, which were not the financial focus of global funds to prevent the spread of EIDs.

Bats 'likely source of Sars'

"The world's public health resources are misallocated," opined co-author Peter Daszak, executive director of the Consortium for Conservation Medicine at the US-based Wildlife Trust.
"Most are focused on richer countries that can afford surveillance, but most of the hotspots are in developing countries.
"If you look at the high-impact diseases of the future, we're missing the point."
However, Dr Dazak said that the maps were the first to offer a prediction of where the next new disease could emerge.
His colleague, Dr John Gittleman from the University of Georgia's Odum School of Ecology, described the data-set as a "seminal moment in how we study emerging diseases".
"Our study has shown that bringing ecological sciences and public health together can advance the field in a dramatic ways," he observed.
The researchers said that the priority should be to set up "smart surveillance" measures in the hotspots identified on the map.

The prodigal daughter returns.

Stop press photograph. Taken this morning in Sophie's garden.(Monday 18th February 2008).
I have already posted that on the first of February, Sophie was able to free herself into the wild forest, as a result of a large tree falling on her wire enclosure. We believed that this was a mixed blessing. We were sad that she had left us but glad that she should join her family in the wild.
Sophie was handed in to us four years ago as a tiny little girl. She lived here with Sussy until adulthood and then as a wife to Totto who finally released himself into the wild last November.
On the twelfth of this month, Sophie was spotted in a tall mango tree by the gatehouse to the farm. She was slow moving and showed little intention of coming down. Dennis, one of our occasional helpers, decided to climb the tree and investigate. He found that she was considerably debilitated and dehydrated. He carefully brought her down, when we were able to take a closer look.
Sophie had been in the peak of good health when she left after the storm. Now she was very sick. We presumed dehydration and at once started a program of treatment with physiological fluids. During this time she refused food. Over the next few days she has gradually started to respond and now is taking food and drink fairly normally. We are still waiting for the result of tests to determine whether there is any other underlying problem.
She is active and appears quite strong but lacks the teasing and mischievous manner that is usual with her. Clearly she still has some way to go before we can say she is healed. Her birthday was on the fourteenth, strange that she should return two days before her birthday.
One aspect of this situation worries me. Even though we have always fed her with substantial amounts of food from the forest, leaves, flowers nuts and berries etc, she has been unable to feed herself satisfactorily when free in the forest. This underlines yet again the tragedy of separating monkeys from their proper environment. They become unable to support themselves in what should be their natural habitat.

A book at bedtime

Lucio,Schatov and Moñito spend their day in Garden Lucio, There they have bamboo walkways, ropes and ladders and a hammock full of colored plastic balls. After a full and energetic day they are tired. At about five in the evening they return to our house for the night. They have not yet asked to stay in Casa Lucio overnight. Schatov sleeps in his own enclosure adjoining my quarters (he often pops in for a cuddle at bedtime). I know you will like this photograph, taken this evening. Moñito has just yawned after a full day playing in the sun. Lucio has just thrown out the cushion. Moñito will cuddle up against Lucio for the night. A few moments after this picture was taken, they were fast asleep. They are above the bookshelf in David's room. I call this picture, ‘a book at bedtime'. No wonder that they are so intelligent with so many books to read.

Crash, bang, wallop.

Last Friday we suffered a storm here at Cañaote with winds gusting at 25 miles per hour. Our metal roofs were bent back and then slammed forward with a noise like a rifle shot. The trees surrounding our compound swayed dangerously and many heavy boughs came crashing down. The following morning we discovered that one particular tree had thrown its bough across Sophie’s enclosure. There it left a gaping hole. Sophie was not in the enclosure. Instead she was in the trees above it. Firstly, she made her way to our house and then quickly to the enclosures of MonaLisa. She stayed near the house for the rest of the day. Towards evening she traveled across the farm to a tall Mammon tree where she stayed through the night. Next morning we went to encourage her to return to her house but she decided to go further into the forest. Sophie has been free before but always returned, by herself to her enclosure. This time she has not returned.
Sophie is in fine condition. She is muscular, with a beautiful shiny coat. She is in excellent health.
For those of you who have never visited our facility, you should know that it is situated in a heavily forested valley, alongside a small mountain. This is a natural habitat for Howler and Capuchin monkeys. There are hundreds of monkeys in the trees near this location.
Sophie will now seek a group to join. She will have no difficulty in finding a suitable family. We have long accustomed her to feeding on forest leaves and flowers. She will have no difficulty in finding food.
This is good news and bad. I am happy that she will go to find her own people. She was a local rescue and came from this area. I am sad that she is no longer with us. I have known her since she was a small 500 gram baby.