My first 2 days with the monkeys

My research has started! On Monday, I went to the field with Rambo's group. They are a strong group with lots of tough males. One of my favorites is Pablo, who used to be alpha of the group.

Pablo, the godfather of the monkey mafia

I had a great time in the morning learning the monkey IDs and helping out with follows. It was amazing to be back with the monkeys. They are such curious, intelligent, and funny animals. Sometimes I forget that they're not human.

Are we studying them or are they studying us?

Monkey overlord

But of course all good things must come to an end. When I tried to run my experiment in the field, it was a disaster. For those of you out there who haven't heard my research spiel a million times, here's the basic rundown. I am trying to figure out how infant capuchins learn how to react to predators such as snakes. So my research involves examining infant reactions to snakes and who they are choosing to reference during a snake event. The idea is that infants should primarily seek information from their mothers and other closely affiliated individuals since these are the individuals they interact with the most. But it's also possible that infants might choose to reference whoever happens to be closest to them during the snake event. So for my experiment, I choose a spot in front of the group where I think they are going to travel. Then I set up my (fake) snake model and cover it up. When an infant is about to cross by the snake, I unveil and (ideally) the infant is the first to spot the snake and alarm at it. If all goes as planned we can record the infant's behavior along with which other monkeys are near the infant and who the infant chooses to reference.

For example, here's one of my boa models.

Looks real, right? Scared you so much that you jumped away from your computer, right? Well that is the intention anyway. Actually this is a 2-D photograph of a boa, but when viewed from the right angle it looks 3-D.

And here's my rattlesnake photo.

Not quite as good, but still pretty cool.

And for good measure my inflatable snakes.

They look fake to me, but the monkeys always alarm at them.

Okay enough science and fun with arts and crafts. Back to the disaster. Finding a place to set up the snake where the infants will walk right by it has been very difficult. My afternoon revolved around running ahead of the group and looking for a good spot. Then I would set everything up and pray for monkeys to arrive. At which point some adult monkeys would pass right by my covered snake. Which would cause me to rejoice since I was confident the infants would take the same path. And then after a few minutes I would watch the infants pass by in the distance, playing, twittering, and laughing at the foolish researcher who thought she could read their minds.

But all was not lost. Yesterday I went out with a different group called Abby's. They are not as tough as Rambo's, but still an interesting group. This time I not only ran into a live boa that the monkeys alarmed at, but also managed to set up a model and an infant was the first to find it and alarm at it. All hope is not lost!

So that's the latest scoop. Stay tuned for future details of life in Bagaces and the forest.

Whitney