A group of wild Howler Monkeys had been wreaking havoc around camp lately, waiting for any chance to steal some food. They’d sit atop the trees and scout for someone carrying a bucket towards a cage, pouncing on any moments of lost concentration.
Their favorite spot was at the small birds’ cage, a collection of seven parrots and such. It’s near another cage, home to Kevin the kinkajou, whose food was also a popular target. Kevin has never been nice to anyone, but we tried to protect his food nonetheless.
Beyond the two cages is a great jungle opening, which is one of the most gorgeous scenes I’ve ever laid eyes upon; lush with tall trees, gigantic green leaves, and a tunnel in the sky for the sun’s light to travel in. It’s part of the Howler’s home and a place we had been hoping they would stay.
After weeks of the monkeys moving to even closer cages to steal food, it was decided we would try and feed them away. So, a feeder was set up in the great jungle opening with the intention of filling their bellies with veggies and then gradually moving the feeder further from camp. After a few days, the feeder had fallen down and it became mine and Stefan’s job to install a new one. We made an open-face wooden box of sorts with a wire mesh bottom and tied rope around the four corners, leveraging it over a log between two trees about twenty feet high.
As our little project was taking place we noticed some company. Rather, Stefan did. “Oh shit,” he said, pointing directly behind me. One of the howler monkey was less than three feet away from me, and we became deadlocked in a jungle stare. Overwhelmed by the beauty of his red-orange coat and careful gaze, I felt no fear. I could have spent the rest of the day marveling at a rare close encounter with such an animal, but I tried to shoo him away with some water. He moved back a couple feet but was generally undeterred. More moments of staring passed before I looked back at Stefan and said, “let’s just get this thing up.”
We continued installing the feeder while repeatedly looking over our shoulders. The Howlers moved to more familiar elevations, climbing into the trees some 50 feet above us. I felt better when the monkey was right next to me. We were almost done with the feeder when suddenly I heard a crack. I looked above and suddenly saw two Howler Monkeys flying through the sky.
The branch they were perched upon had snapped and these two wild monkeys were free falling through the air some fifty feet from tree to ground, coming right towards us. “What the fuck?” was the only thought I could conjure as the two primates landed from their disaster dissent just six feet to my right. I reckoned they might be dead, but instead the monkeys looked at me as if to say “whoops” and simply walked away.
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