Happy Easter!

Hi everyone-


It has been an interesting yet trying month so far. Here are some of the "highlights" of the month so far:


1) Rain

It rained during the first few days of the month. It didn't rain all day or even much of the day, but when it rained, it poured. Normally rain doesn't seem like that bad of a thing and hey, it even makes it cooler which is a definite bonus during these 90+ days. But when you're a scientist carrying lots of electronic equipment in your backpack, rain becomes your nemesis. I packed my camera in a plastic bag, tupperware, dry bag, backpack, backpack cover, and poncho, but I was still a little worried that it would get wet. And also rain means that there is water available in treeholes which means that the monkeys don't need to stick to the rivers to get water which means that they can go anywhere. Since my experiment requires me to predict their movement patterns, this is definitely not a good thing. Also, the rain makes me grumpy. This is because it becomes super humid in the field and I sweat like a mad woman (as if I didn't already sweat enough every day). And it causes the chiggers to return which means I was (and still am) itching like a mad woman. But just when I began to despair that April would be a rainy month instead of a dry month, the rain ended and it has not rained since (knock on wood). It will probably rain again in May, but at least I have one last month of dry, dehydrated bliss (scientifically speaking).



2) Sloanea

This one word can strike fear into the heart of anyone who has worked or is currently working with these monkeys. Sloanea is the name of a fruiting tree that the monkeys love. This fruit just so happens to be covered in hundreds of little hairs and the monkeys scrub the fruits on the tree branches in order to get rid of the hairs enroute to the delicious interior. The problem is that these hairs, when they make contact with your skin, itch like crazy, and become stuck in your skin. So you can imagine a monkey researcher standing under a Sloanea tree trying to get data on some monkey when suddenly this monkey starts to scrub the Sloanea fruit causing hundreds and thousands of little itchy hairs to descend on the researcher. At which point the researcher lets out a yelp of fear and runs away from the tree. Unfortunately, once you've been Sloaneaed (a new verb) you are pretty much stuck being incredibly itchy for the rest of the day since the hairs are difficult to get out of your skin and clothes. The worst thing that can happen is to get Sloanea in your eye. I've heard that this is horribly painful and you then have to travel to Liberia to get it removed by the eye doctor for a hefty fee. Luckily this has never happened to me, but it has happened to several others which is why everyone is now required to wear Sloanea goggles in the field.



3) The All-American Day

I decided to spend a day in Liberia for a change of pace. I paid approximately $1 to take the 30 minute bus ride to the city. Then I found a coffee shop that had air conditioning and wireless internet and spent a few hours working on my videos on my computer. It felt exactly like an American coffee shop and there were a few times that I forgot that I was in Costa Rica. Even the background music was the same as in American coffee shops. I felt a bit awkward hanging out with the other gringo tourists that popped in for lunch, but I had such a good time and was so productive in the A/C that I think I will try to make an effort to work there every week. After this enjoyable morning, I decided to buy some basketball shoes. I have been practicing in my running shoes and my ankles were killing me. I tried one sports shoes store in town, but they said the only store that sold bball shoes was at the "mall". So I walked the 1.5 miles to the "mall" on the edge of town to check it out. Now this "mall" is more like a 2 story plaza compared to American malls, but it still had some huge clothing stores so it also made me feel like I was back in the U.S. I found the store I was looking for and asked the clerk for bball shoes. He said "Well here is one type of bball shoes that we have." Then paused and said "Well actually this is the only type of bball shoes that we have." I guess bball isn't too popular in this country. But luckily they fit well and I bought them. I've only had one practice since then, but they seem to be working well. And I had a fun adventure in Liberia.



4) Intergroups

Intergroups are when 2 different groups of monkeys meet up in the same place and usually the weaker group runs away. We had a few days in a row when 2 of the groups that we study, Abby's and Rambo's, were having intergroups together every day. The problem was that Rambo's, a very strong group, had decided to expand their territory into part of Abby's core territory. Abby's had no choice but to run away since they have very few adult males and are thus weak. But Abby's kept trying to come back to one of their favorite areas, Pizote Stream, while Rambo's was there. This meant multiple intergroups in one day which was fine for me since I was with Rambo's that day and we just sat around and hung out with the females and babies while our males chased the other group away. Of course the situation was reversed when I went to Abby's the next day (I alternate groups every day). All of a sudden, I was the one running every time we met up with Rambo's. On this day, Rambo's met up with us first thing in the morning so we ran to Waterfall Stream which is usually solely Abby's territory. But Rambo's decided that they wanted this area too so they came over later in the morning and we ran again...this time to Casa Casa Stream. We had just started to settle down and I was just thinking about setting up my experiment when we heard other monkeys alarming at us from down the stream. It was a different monkey group, Solo's group, and since pretty much every group is stronger than Abby's, we-you guessed it-ran away. We took a little rest, but then Solo's came out way so we ran to the very end of the stream which deadends in some houses. We spent the rest of the day in 2 trees at the end of this stream and we (the researchers) kept wondering where Abby's could live if all of their territory was taken over by these other groups. In the afternoon, one of the Solo's males came to the end of the stream and I thought 'Oh no, where are they going to run now? There is nothing left except pasture!" Luckily the females decided enough was enough and they yelled at the male and chased him off. But we were still trapped at the end of the stream by Solo's who were hanging out further downstream and this was not a good place to spend the night. So right before bedtime, we started slowly making out way downstream toward Solo's. Of course we had another intergroup, but we were far enough downstream at that point to take a shortcut through the fields back to Waterfall Stream (which Rambo's had kindly vacated) and settle in for the night. Of course this day left us exhausted and with little data to show for it. Luckily, Rambo's and Solo's have been spending time lately in other parts of their territories which gives Abby's a little break from running.

5) Experiments

But there have been some exciting times too. I decided to do an experiment on a 4 month old baby. Previously, the youngest infant I had attempted an experiment with was approximately 6 months old. So I had no idea if a 4 month old would alarm at my snake model. I have to admit that one of the side reasons for me trying this was the opportunity to film this incredibly cute baby. So I managed to get the baby by herself and unveiled the model and....she looked at it...and....she alarmed! At first she did a tentative alarm, but then she did a full blown alarm...all before anyone else saw the model or alarmed. It's pretty cool to discover that these monkeys can recognize and know what to do (alarm) with a snake at such a young age. I guess all of those snake events that they experience while still dorsal on their moms are enough to give them an idea of what to do while they're on their own.

Well, that's been my exciting (and painful) month so far. Hope everything's going well in your neck of the woods!