Monkey see, monkey do. I grew up hearing this phrase, understanding what it meant, but not realizing where it actually comes from. Today, we explored the Pacaya River, one of the namesake rivers of the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve that we have been visiting all week. The abundance of wildlife justifies spending all day here. Lining the riverbank, an amazing abundance of birds filled our day. But monkeys were the highlight for sure!
On both of our skiff rides today, we didn’t go more than a few minutes without seeing some sort of monkey. Multiple groups of brown capuchins used their prehensile tails to move through the treetops. Large, black, and fuzzy, Monk saki sat on huge horizontal branches. Small saddleback tamarins ran through the trees like squirrels. And the large red howlers not only greeted us from afar with their calls, but climbed to the tops of trees to watch the sunset. By far the most abundant, however, were the squirrel monkeys.
Many, many groups of squirrel monkeys were enjoyed, and I myself took hundreds of photos of them just from today. Currently, the Pacaya River has many trees in the legume family in flower, and the monkeys were feasting on the sweet nectar. Oblivious to our presence, they were sucking the flowers and dropping them on our head, as we watched from only a few meters away at times. One stretch of trees was filled with hundreds of squirrel monkeys, some carrying babies on their backs. Acrobatic leaps were certainly on the agenda for the day, and we were rewarded with many incredible jumps. Monkey see, monkey do. We would watch a jump, and then train our eyes and cameras on that spot. Sure enough, another would come along, and jump in the exact same spot. Using our knowledge, we were able to place ourselves in the perfect spot to enjoy the monkey spectacle of the Pacaya River.
