MONKEYS

                                             Entertaining Animals

         There are many species of monkeys, but I’m only going to relate experiences I’ve had with three of them  in Costa Rica.

        Costa Rica is home to four distinct species of monkey. The deep guttural sound of the howler or the rustling of leaves overhead is a telltale sign that monkeys are in the area.

        Capuchin monkeys , also called white face monkey, are native to the tropics, but not to Africa as movies sometime depict. They are agile, medium size and make good use of their long prehensile tail. They inhabit diverse habitats from the high altitude rain forests to the lowland mangroves. White face monkeys will eat anything

Howler monkeys are named for their distinct eerie call that can be heard as far as a mile away. They are large black animals that seem ferocious because of their physical appearance and their deep howls. It is believed that they mark their territory with their guttural sounds. The howler monkeys we saw in Tortuguero seemed much smaller than the howlers I’ve seen elsewhere in

the country. Only the males make the growling-grunting sound. In the presence of humans they are quite shy and stay higher up in the canopy. They are common and easy to spot in dry tropical forests. Howlers are vegetarians and eat early in the day because they need sunlight to digest their food. Their scrotum is white and that is how they thermo-regulate their bodies. On one trip to Costa Rica we were awakened early each morning by the howling monkeys that sounded like they were right outside our window!

Spider monkeys are long, slender and dark brown to black in color. They prefer the high canopy of primary forests. Although very adept with their prehensile tails they actually travel through the canopy hand over hand. They are often seen along the edges of Tortuguero’s jungle canals and that is where we saw them.

            Squirrel monkeys are the most endangered and rarest of Costa Rica’s monkeys. These small brown monkeys have dark eyes surrounded by large white rings, have white ears and chests, and long tails. Predominately fruit eaters, they  travel in large bands. So if you see one, you’ll see several.  We saw them at Manual Antonio Park where they entertained us for some time while they scampered down out of the trees onto the beach to see what they could snatch to eat. They were usually successful. Surprised tourists looked on watching the monkeys scamper off with a confiscated cracker.