Fur and Feathers: Monkeys

Now comes everyone's favorite animal group at the center, monkeys. At Sacha Yacu we take care of 12 monkeys, all with their own unique look and personality. Monkeys are an interesting case... they're both amazing and awful for the same reason, their likeness to humans. It's a wonderful thing to go into a cage with the monkeys and have them climb your leg and curl up in your arms trying to get their smell on you. It's not so great when they throw mud at you, bite your fingers, or break your wristwatch (Ok, so it was a $5 watch I got on the street in Quito, but still annoying.)

These are actually just wild Squirrel Monkeys that hang around the center because we feed them.

11 of our monkeys are Capuchins, considered the most intelligent of the New World monkeys. It really is astounding just how smart these little furballs are; I have seen them using tools to try to escape from their cages, using tools to actually escape from their cages, washing fruit before eating it, displaying jealousy and a myriad of other emotions, and outsmarting us humans on a daily basis. Twice a week we feed our monkeys insects that we catch the day before (using our hands I might add), the insects are supposed to be fed to the monkeys one at a time, but on more than one occasion I have seen the monkeys distract the person feeding them insects and then reach through the cage and greedily grab a giant handful of insects from the open jar. They of course proceed to run away and hoard their new catch, lustily wolfing down their prize while insect guts drip down their chins.

Me with Ada, aka my baby.

This is Zongo Zongo, our Titi monkey. She's abundantly furry and fuzzy, easily the most beautiful monkey we have, and she always sits on my shoulder for feeding time, my second favorite animal at the center.

But while they monkeys can often be a handful, they are undeniably loveable. I have several monkeys at the center that love to see me every day, when I come in to feed them or clean their cage they will jump on my back and start delicing me (picking through my hair), or climb into my arms and start making little baby noises. They are some of our cutest animals, and on good days they really make it a joy to work at Sacha Yacu.

This would be Ninja, one of our Capuchins, with his tail wrapped around my neck.