When kids grow up.

Do you know what it feels like to be a parent when it comes time to let your kids go off on their own to boarding school? Or when your eldest says, ‘I think it is time I moved out’.

I feel a bit like that this week. You remember that Maniña had a quarrel with Lala and it was necessary to separate him from Lala and Schatov? I couldn’t leave him alone in that enclosure so every evening around supper time I invite him into the house. He has been sharing my quarters with Miss Billy. Early morning I have been transporting them both to the big enclosure occupied by Eslabon and Tutti. It’s a big place with plenty to do. There are lots of bamboo walkways, swings and ropes and the company of other monkeys. For the first few weeks I continued to collect Miss Billy and Maniña in the evening, bringing them back to my quarters for the night.

This week, they have both refused to be collected. Preferring the company of other monkeys to the human environment I offer in the evening. It's a pleasure to see the pair of them playing with the others and sunning themselves the way Howlers love to do.

I have been surprised by this. In particular, Maniña is a daddy’s boy and loves to sleep in my quarters. Suddenly he has grown up and moved away from home.

Those of you who have never had the opportunity to observe Howler monkey’s sleeping arrangements should know that they like to sleep in a big group for maximum comfort and warmth.
Lucio is now the sole occupant of my quarters at night time. His house and garden are almost complete. Certainly it will be ready for him by this weekend. Our plan is that he will occupy the garden during the day and come in during the night. Until he tells us that he wants to leave home. We have yet to decide who his companions will be. Sophie has shown and interest and MonaLisa has put in her bid.
I almost forgot to tell you that is Maniña in the photograph but of course you knew that.

A new house in a new way

Something different is happening at Cañaote. We provide large enclosures for our children. We try as far as possible to make these locations as natural and forestlike as possible. We always include live trees and we supply fresh leaves and flowers from the forest every day. The enclosure has to cope with a variety of climatic conditions. So each location has at least one house although several of our gardens have more than one. These houses must cope with heavy rain in the wet season and sometimes strong winds. For the whole year the temperature rises quite sharply after midday, so the residence must be capable of providing shade. This is also necessary in the dry season. We achieve this by building an insulated box with two doors; monkeys always like to have a backdoor for escape. Then above this an open area or under roof level which is simply covered by a roof, allowing air to flow freely but still providing shelter from either the sun or the rain. Building these houses is a routine that we have whenever we make a new location.
What is new this time is that Lucio’s human family has made a significant contribution enabling us to build a rather special location for him. There will be pictures of this as soon as it is complete. The work is going ahead very fast and we are expecting it to be complete this week. Another unusual feature is that they have also volunteered to construct the house. This is the first time that a family has been actually involved in the construction of an enclosure by making or building something. Formerly families have made financial contributions but never actually hands on.

Our picture today is the first working diagram of the house. It will be interesting to compare it with the final result as it evolves.

A place in the Sun

Pictures to follow

We have eleven monkeys in our care. All of them from human homes, in various places in Venezuela. Most are from the jungles of Caracas although many come from Valencia and one from Aragua. All of them appear to be semi domesticated. MonaLisa likes to clean her teeth with cream and a toothbrush; yes she really does clean her teeth not just bite the brush. .Maniña likes to lay full length on the bed and be tickled. Eslabon adores a cuddle and sitting close. Lucio likes to shower, which is most unusual for a howler monkey. Howlers in general hate water on their coats. He also likes to hold hands. Sophie likes to cover herself with colorful materials and so on. Lala taught us that she likes to be brushed and now they all demand it. They have all adopted some facet of human behavior. It is easy to forget that they are wild animals. Fortunately there are some reminders. Early morning all of our children engage in the mighty roar. The whole house reverberates with their call. This is their statement that this is their territory, and it belongs to them. It also reminds us that they are still wild animals and are asserting their right to a place in the sun.

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

Two houses but they prefer the washing machine.

We have photographs of three good friends this morning. When Lala (top right) arrived I was not sure where we were going to place her. I mentioned that we aborted coupling her with Eslabon. Finally we found that Schatov and Maniña were compatible and they have formed a happy group with only the occasional squabble.

The photograph of Schatov (bottom center) is unusual because his fur is raised as for battle. When I took the photograph we had been play fighting and he was showing how macho he is.

The picture of Maniña (top left) shows that his facial color is slightly different to the others. If you look at the coloration around his eyes, you would almost say that he has a white face.

Lala has settled down well to the routine here at Cañaote. She sleeps in the washing machine with Schatov and Maniña in spite of the fact that I have constructed two houses for them. There is no pleasing monkeys.

Happy Birthday MonaLisa and Nancy

We should be celebrating two birthdays this week. Yesterday was Nancy’s birthday and she has been with us exactly one year. I believe she was about 5 months when she arrived.
Today is MonaLisa’s birthday and she came to us in October 2003 and she was one year and nine months old when she arrived. Which of course makes her five years and nine months old. We celebrate her birthday from when she arrived with us at Canaote.
These are important dates in our calendar. MonaLisa is now our oldest lady and she is still single. She has been asking a lot of questions about a new boy, Lucio, who is scheduled to arrive next weekend.

We decided that it was too soon after the passing of Sussy to have a party. We will have barbeque next month instead.

In our photo, MonaLisa is on the left and Nancy is next to her. Emma is on the right

Eslabon has visitors

Through the tears, life goes on.
I have related before that howler monkeys are very choosy about their friends. We spend a lot of time matching our children. The object is harmony in the home. Howlers sleep closely together when they are compatible. They also eat togther. Exactly what makes them compatible I have only a vague idea. Emma and Schatov were at one time inseparable. Several times I described them as being a marriage made in heaven. After they moved to their new home inside our compound they were suddenly at odds. We would say that they had fallen out and now spent their day quarreling. This was a big disappointment to us all. Subsequently we discovered that Emma has a bad attitude to all males and we have to keep her and in isolation from them. She is fine with MonaLisa and Nancy and they live together in harmony. But frequently she has a shouting match with Maniña next door. How do you find out if they are compatible? Try it out is the answer.
In our photograph today you see Eslabon with Rosita on the left and Tutti on the right. Rosita has a 'Hey! Why did you do that', expression on her face because Eslabon has just stolen her biscuit. Out of sight Miss Billy is in the trees above them and MonaLisa is on the other side of the enclosure eating leaves. This group is completely compatible. I would consider putting MonaLisa and Eslabon permanently together. The only fly in the ointment is Nancy. Nancy is the surrogate child of Emma but she also loves MonaLisa. When MonaLisa is visiting Eslabon, she cries all the time. Consequently, MonaLisa visits in the morning and returns to her own enclosure, with Nancy in the late afternoon.

I am hoping that Nancy will get used to the separation in time.
In the meantime a strong relationship is developing between Schatov and Lala. Lala is happy with her two cohorts, Schatov and Maniñia. But that is a story for another day.

Even in our sorrow we have cause for joy

Today I feel least like writing the blog, since I began a few years ago. I have so much I need to say but it is all painful to me.

Some months ago, you will recall that Sussy left Canaote on an extended visit to her original home with Gabriela at Manrique. She has been losing weight and muscle tone. We felt that an extended visit with constant attention would improve matters. Indeed she began to look a 100% better.

After a time her age began to show. You remember that she is 16 years old. The kind of infirmity that younger people are able to shrug off, were becoming mayor and difficult to treat. She triumphed over a blood infection and against all professional opinion began to recover.
Recently, she has had an inflammation in her neck and abnormality has been identified in her heart. She has struggled with these problems as the great fighter that she is. Numerous visits to a number of veterinary doctors have confirmed the seriousness of her condition. Gabriela has been constant friend of Sussy's. Making tests and seeking treatments. I have been an observer to this big effort to cure a monkey that I really love.

She first came to Canaote four years ago and I immediately fell in love with her. She did not give her friendship easily. First I had to prove myself as a friend and then gradually she accepted me and would spend many hours sitting with me. For a long time we shared breakfast and sang morning prayers together. I looked forward to these mornings and I think she did too. These are the things that I will remember about her. The happy days.

Over the last days. Her condition has worsened considerable. She no longer eats or takes fluid without force. Her breathing is painful and noisy, her heart is racing. She is in pain and there is no longer a hope that tomorrow will see a better day.

Gabriela and I talked and finally we decided that she was in such pain that it was time for her to go to sleep. Gabriela took her to the veterinary clinic this morning to place her in eternal rest


We must remember the good days when she was well and played in the sun and not her parting. We remember that she was mother to a number of great Monkeys in her long life, like Teddy and Bungie. She accepted Marco as a surrogate child when he was only 300 grams in weight and brought him to adulthood.

Now we must look forward to the future, to the new life that stirs in Vicky, Marco’s child. How Sussy would have loved a grandchild. But more about that in another posting.

Here I offer a small prayer in her memory.

This we know: every living thing is Yours and returns to you.
As we ponder this mystery we give You thanks for the life of Sussy and we now commit her into Your loving hands.

Gentle Father, fragile is Your world, delicate are Your creatures, and costly is Your
love which bears and redeems us all.

Holy Father, give us eyes to see and ears to hear how every living thing speaks to us of Your love.

Let us be awestruck at Your creation and daily sing Your praises. Especially,
create within us a spirit of gratitude for the life of Sussy who has lived among
us and given us freely of her love.

Even in our sorrow we have cause for joy for we
know that we may be reunited with her in Your heaven.

Sorry folks

I got the weather station address slightly wrong. What I gave you will not work.

Press the weather medal alongside this posting.
or

Here is the correct address.

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=ICOJEDES2

We had a record amount of rain last night for this year. Over 2 inches or 51.8 mm
thought you would like to know.

All the children were wrapped up warm and dry. No leaks and everyone comfortable.

The British are always talking about the weather.

Most of you know that I am an Englishman. I have the same interest in the weather as most of my compatriots. Most people who live on small islands share this fascination. But here is something of interest. Recently we installed a weather station. The station is important to us for several reasons. In the general sense, we are just below the hurricane belt by about 300 miles. Most of the islands in the Caribbean are subject to severe weather conditions. We are lucky in that we are well below the ravages of the storms. But with the changes taking place in world weather, it is important to monitor locations such as ours. Permanent changes in our climate auger badly for world climate change.

Latitude 9. 42’ 42. 6954
Longitude 68. 20’ 31. 596
Elevation 220 Meters


In the particular sense, knowledge of and the ability to predict the climate is important for our Botanic Garden. It gives us a basis for planning watering and seed sowing. It also tell us when to take special precautions to protect our monkeys.

If you would like to know the current weather at Cañaote just type this address into your browser.

http://wx.findu.com/cw8891


The CW8891 is our call sign with the Citizens Weather reporting service. Our information goes online to the internet every 30 minutes.

There now, if you are planning a trip here, you can check the weather before you start out. Very handy, yes?

You could brush those cobwebs away.

My Day
I usually rise at 5 am, just before the dawn breaks. I am not sure that I know what wakes me but I think it is the slight sounds and movement of the monkeys in the enclosures adjoining my quarters. Then of course at 6.15 the morning chorus of the wild monkeys begins in the forest, with our own children joining in strong voice. It is difficult to say who has the strongest voice amongst our children; surprisingly it is either Schatov or Totto.
My first job is to attend to Miss Billy. She has a cardboard house on the sideboard in my room. I like to prepare her for the day. This means, firstly making her some milk, this is good wake up stuff for Miss Billy. She is very fussy. She won’t drink the milk shake that I prepare for all the others. It has to be milk, milk and only milk for Miss Billy. Then I prepare for her a small portion of either lechosa or bananas, with a few sheaves of leaves, kept fresh in a plastic container overnight. Finally a biscuit, this is usually Krakker. Just before I take her to her day nursery, I give her calcium supplement and Kiddi multi vitamins.

During this operation I have been in the kitchen, preparing the milkshake for the others. As you may know this is a grand mixture of bananas, merengada, Ne-Nerina, Multi vitamin Kiddi, Mirapol oil and quality milk powder.

This is all in readiness for when the helper and the housekeeper arrive at 7 am.

The housekeeper prepares the breakfast, which is either bananas, crude or cooked on alternate occasions or lechosa, chopped into mouth size pieces. Whilst the helper tours all the enclosures collecting the previous night’s plates and dishes, and washing down the tables, ready for breakfast.

After breakfast I begin my tour of all the enclosures. I start with Lala and her two friends, Schatov and Maniñia. They all love to be brushed. This is not an orderly event because monkeys don't know about taking turns. I start with Manina only to find that it is Schatov that I am brushing. There is a bit of shufling then it is Lala on the brush and so it goes on. This of course takes quite a time, usually about 20 minutes per child. During this process I look around to see that their bedclothes are clean and that excrement has been cleaned away. Nearly always I find that Rosita has found her way into the enclosure, she loves to move around the other enclosures and in spite of her small size she is a great robber of other children’s food.

Next on my tour is MonaLisa, Emma, and Nancy. Rosita is normally here also but at this time in the morning she is ‘on tour’. More brushing of course but the ladies like to play games with me as well. Nancy and Emma pull my hair, whereas MonaLisa an older friend, likes to sit on my shoulder and groom me. I often find the bedding on the floor and the food trays upturned, but that is all part of the days chore. I love being with these ladies and they know that I love them.

My next stop is Totto and Sophie. They are a great couple. Totto always very proud and Sophie is mischievous. Totto is a new client for brushing. Until recently I did not realize that he liked this attention. You can imagine how pleased I was when he made it clear to me that he would like this interaction. I really feel that now we know each other very well and that there is a mutual trust. It is a highlight of my morning to visit this monkey. I feel safe in spite of his obvious power. I love watching him enjoying my brushing.
My last stop is Eslabon, and Tutti and by this time Miss Billy. Master Tutti is very young and loves to be with me. Quite often I let him sit on my shoulder for the rest of the morning. Eslabon is quite a character, he swings around on the bamboo and the ropes and comes at me suddenly from every angle but there is no harm in this, it is all for fun. He is a comedian and a charmer. At this time there is little interaction with Miss Billy. This enclosure is very large with many tree branches and she hides in these for a good part of the morning. She loves the sun and positions herself to get the benefit. This of course is a great for her ailment, she needs the sun. I sometime get a little depressed when I see her walking so badly and hesitantly but each day I see a small real improvement in her mobility. I am sure that we are pursuing the right course with her.
At five in the evening, I collect Miss Billy and bring her to my quarters for the night. She is becoming more active in the house. Occasionally venturing into the big room and even looking around in the kitchen, this is of course very new. I am certain that the long term prognosis for her is good. I can’t wait to see her enjoy her day.
Well that is a brief run down on my day. If you feel like joining me for a few hours, I have a spare brush waiting for you.

Totto and the big brush off.

Many of you will have met Totto on your visits here. Others will have seen photographs of him. Either way you cannot fail to notice that he is a big mature monkey. He is very proud and a stickler for the hierarchical protocol. He tolerates human company but hardly acknowledges our presence. He cares deeply for Sophie his wife and allows her all kinds of liberties including pulling his tail. One would not readily decide to stroke him or touch him in any way.

Over a long period, he and I have developed a mutual respect. He knows that I care for him and give him deference. He knows that I bring him special tidbits and that I spend time talking to him. Recently we discovered that Lala loves to be brushed. I know that howlers in common with most monkeys like to be groomed and that this is part of the hierarchical protocol. I have been testing the theory around all our children and without exception they enjoy being brushed.

With a little trepidation I decided to ask Totto if he would like to be brushed. His response was immediate. He loves it. He turns from side to side to allow me access and in particular he loves his very full beard to be brushed. I use a fairly stiff brush. You can see it in this picture of Totto.

The only downside to this service is that it takes me a long time to go around all the children. But It is well worth the effort. Their coats are now looking outstanding and I get the satisfaction of seeing their enthusiastic welcome when I enter with the brush.

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.

Do you recognise this plant?

We try to give our children the most natural diet possible. Given that they are in semi captivity for reasons that I have often talk about. The howler monkey forages daily for food. They range through the forest searching for suitable trees for the days feeding. We have to emulate this activity to give them the most healthy and natural environment possible. Foraging also means rotation. They never feed on the same tree two days in sucession. How clever they are. They do not exhaust their supply, always leaving enough for another day. Our helpers go into the forest every day and come back with armfuls of fresh leaves, berries and fruits. The children recognize this and the happy sounds we hear from their enclosures when the boys arrive back with their days collection, is wonderful to hear. This sound tells us that we are doing the right thing. Who know better than the children themselves? This is of course in addition to the balanced diet that we give them.
Sometimes the children know better than we do. They love the leaves of the plant in our photograph. It is thorny, but this does not worry the monkeys, although I have had several sore fingers from handling it. What is its name? The locals call it 'Uña de gavilian', or 'fingernail of the hawk'. This seems like a good name, the thorns are very like the claws of the hawk. I know this because I had a young rescue hawk and her family with me for many months and her claws, grasping my hand were similar. (this story another time). I don't yet know what the children call it. What do you call it? Please tell me.

Miss Billy's best friend stays over.

When Miss Billy arrived she was in quite a distressed state. Unwashed she has a strong body odor and her coat was matted. Her crouched appearance told us that she was probably in pain. She was very internalized, not wanting attention or affection. She just wanted to be left alone to sleep. She did not want the company of either me or other monkeys. Attempts to get her to socialize failed. When I allow a newcomer to share my room, almost always they want to sleep in the bed alongside me. Not so Miss Billy.

On her first night I had been unpacking some equipment and the box lay on a sideboard in my room. It so happened that the front of the box was a circular cutout. This made it look cave like. Miss Billy went directly to it, made herself comfortable and it has become her night time home.

Since that time she has improved. Her diet is strictly controlled by me. She has a calcium supplement twice a day to aid in bone recovery and multivitamin with her breakfast. We have constructed a low rise bamboo walkway in one of the enclosures, so that she can sit in the sun during the day. This is all good stuff for creating vitamin‘d’. During this time she has been sharing with other monkeys, in particular, Eslabon, Tutti and Rosita. Well you can’t be anywhere near that joker Eslabon without sharing his games. I cannot say that she is cured because she is not. I can say she is showing a definite improvement. Her mobility is better and she now enjoys the company of Rosita and Tutti, making happy noises whenever they approach her. Quite often Rosita come to see her quite late and stays over, just like young human children do with their best friend. The cameo like photograph was taken last night on such a stay over.
I am tolerated as a means of transport and giver of good things to eat. I have not yet been invited to stay over.