Monkey Update

If you read the post about our day of monkey drama, you'll recall that we were pretty sure the family of howler monkeys that lives in the trees near our house was reunited, mostly because Cornelius and Zira started making lots of noise right after the locals said they'd let Milo go.  The parents had been quiet up to that point, remember.  We took the grunting and howling as a good sign that they had the baby back with them.

We were also a little concerned whether Mom and Dad would take him back after being handled by us distant relatives - humans.  When I was a kid I was always told not to handle baby birds because the parents wouldn't take it back into the nest.   Not even if a cute tow-headed 8 year old tree climber who found a baby robin on the ground had the best of intentions.

We continued to hear the monkeys but it wasn't until just a few days ago, about a week after the monkeynapping incident, that we finally made visual contact.  So excited!!  We were on the porch, working on lessons and listening to Cornelius carry on, when we saw some Nicas down the lake path looking up in the trees.  Thinking it was possibly another howler incident developing, I decided to let them know we were watching by walking over to see what they were doing.  You know, act like an innocent gringo "Hey, what's y'all looking at?"

Suspicions unwarranted.  It was a family gathering wood and the dad was holding his young son, pointing out Zira and Milo in one tree, and Cornelius in another.  I greeted him with  'buenos dias' and said 'La familia de monos es muy bonita' which was close enough to 'the monkey family is very beautiful'.  Notice I made sure to refer to them as a 'family'.  I saw Cornelius up in a big mango tree on the south end of our 'yard'.  And across the path along the lake in a smaller tree we saw Zira and Milo.  

Of course, Cornelius and I were thinking the same thing:  Zira, get your monkey butt into a bigger, taller tree!  And bring Milo with you!  

I said goodbye to the father and his son, then walked back over to the porch to report to Bex! that I had seen our monkeys all together.  I think my smile gave it away before I actually said a word.  She hurried over to check it out for herself.

So, for now our little monkey family is all together and doing well.  As much as we like having them near our house, we wouldn't mind if they moved up the mountain a little ways!  

At least until Milo is a little bigger and learns more evasive maneuvers!