How the monkeys play capture the flag and I gamble

Hello hello
I realize how strange the excitement is that I feel when my focal monkey poops. The more samples I collect before 10am during the week, the more concrete Maria's dissertation will be, and the more likely I am to have Saturday off. It is a bit like gambling, because I've started to understand the odds that the monkey may poo. Some of the odds I make up to keep myself entertained, others are definitely real. I'll spare you the details of the turgid-ity and personality of their butt holes, though. First of all, its good if I find the right monkeys early right when I get there, which is getting easier because I'm better able to distinguish their individual struts and tail position while walking. If they sit with their butts hanging far off the edge of the rock, my odds are good, if they pee while sitting off a rock, my odds are VERY good, and my heart starts beating, its just like a slot machine with the first two aligned on the cherry! The odds I convince myself are good are when they begin to walk after napping for a while, after mating with a female, or after a fight with other males and then walk off to find a place to rest by themselves. The last its a bit of over anthropomorphizing since I tell myself they will poo because they are just so relaxed now that the fight is over. So these thoughts are how I entertain myself through the day.

The monkeys on the other hand, seem like they are playing capture the flag alllll day. When I first arrive on the island my group is often laying around somewhere, all the females calmly grooming their offspring. Its a nice sight in the mornings. When we get to the island, though, so does their food. When the hear the guys going up the hill in the truck with the food, they make their "food call," one right after the other. Its a pretty cute, high pitched whine. Its hard to describe, but then the whole group moves up hill to the corral. Usually the high ranking males get in the corral first and the rude ones sit in front of the feeder holes and scare off everyone else who tries to get food until they are done. The lower ranking males and females sit outside the corral, just waiting. The low ranking males often take this opportunity to mate with females in the bushes, at a time when the higher ranking males won't bother them. Good strategy. Others rush in, very quickly, grab some chow and stick it in their pouches, and run out to find a quiet secluded place to sit and eat. After feeding the monkeys will consecutively head to the water hole a little down the hill. The water hole is a whole separate scary place for lower ranking males. Females and offspring will "play a game' where they see how many heads can fit into the hole and drink, its pretty adorable. But if a higher ranking male comes, they must get out of the way, fast. Also, lower ranking individuals in general are very weary when drinking. They take breaks every few milliseconds to look around. I have definitely seen individuals get attacked, bitten and scratched, while their head was down in the hole.

This is only the first hour or so of the day, and probably the times when lower ranking individuals must be the most careful, since there are tangible resources at stake if they make the wrong move. The rest of the day, though, males are walking around, checking out who's in their vicinity. The entire island is forested, so I can always see them lean side to side in order to get a good view between the trees. They get up in trees to get better views, hide behind trees so they can't bee seen. The resource at stake here is staying safe, and maintaining dominance. Its known that the best way to stay high ranking is to inflict random acts of aggression, rather like a bully. That way, your subordinates are just always afraid of you, makin sure their in the right place at the right time, or else they may get chunks bitten outta their bodies, bloody, deep scratches, or something of the sort.

So life on the island is intense, but my life on the island of Puerto Rico is pretty simple. I'm still researching my butt off. Besides that, I started Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabrial Garcia Marquez. I love him, he is the one of the best authors I have ever read and definitely recommend him to everyone. There has never been an author so incredible with words, to describe even the most mundane situations so that they become profound. MM mm mm.

Love from the Caribbean!