Tuesday January 31 – Sunday February 5, 2012

I HAVE NOW SEEN MONKEYS!!!  In fact, the official count for the Sea Monkey Safari is FIVE species.

The last post I made (scroll down) was when we were entering the Amazon River. As I write this, we are now exiting the Amazon River and heading across the Atlantic to Africa. It’ll be a long stretch.

Our visit to Brazil was, by all accounts, a great success. We travelled up the Amazon to the city of Manaus. There are parts of Manaus that are quite nice, but much of it is a fairly standard, crowded city with very little appeal. Therefore, one must choose carefully where to spend one’s time. Remember that we are on a ship, so – unless we’re travelling away from the city – the ship serves as our hotel. That makes things so much easier and more comfortable.

I spent a few hours here and there walking around the city to get a feel for the place. I learned a very few words in Portuguese in advance – and often found my Spanish helped with a few people. (Shout out to Marsha: “Donde esta la biblioteca?”)

Our port stops include a choice of many arranged tours and “Faculty Directed Programs.” The latter are tours or activities that may be required by some faculty for their courses during the voyage. Those of us without responsibilities in port are free to choose (at a fee) among the available packages – or venture out on our own. So, while some of the students and faculty went off to Rio or to other far-flung places to swim with the dolphins or fish for piranha or learn about the local culture, I was on a monkey quest.

My first stop was to visit with colleagues at the Universidad Federal do Amazonas (UFAM; see map). I had been in touch with Marcelo Gordo, Director of the “Projeto de Sauim Coleira” in advance, with the plan to visit with him and see his study subjects. The university is nestled in a forest (literally a large fragment of the Amazon forest) within the city of Manaus. The forest is home to the Pied Tamarin (Saquinus bicolor), among other species. This endangered monkey is the subject of intense study by Marcelo and his students. We spent a long time discussing his research and he also discussed his work with the city of Manaus to develop wildlife corridors between some of the many fragments around the city. If successful, this will provide some relief to the pressure on the tamarins.

Although no Pied Tamarins were around when I was on the UFAM campus, I did have the opportunity to visit the captive Red-faced Black Spider Monkeys (Ateles paniscus) near Marcelo’s lab. These monkeys came into captivity as youngsters, orphaned when their mothers were killed for food. Marcelo and his team have been caring for the group (which has now managed to reproduce). Plans are underway to release them into a protected area, when funding for radio-collars can be found. (Despite the fact that they're captives, they're in their home country and "in transit",...so I am counting them in the Sea Monkey Safari census.)

Also at the meeting with Marcelo was Jefferson Barros, a student who studies Pied Tamarins in Tupe Reserve (see map). Jefferson and his girlfriend took me to INPA, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas. This area is another forest fragment in the city, with resident primate species. In addition to being a well-respected research center, this part of INPA is open to the public as a sort of walk-through zoo. (They also have a much larger research base north of the city).

This in-city site features a few exhibits for captive animals, but also has free-ranging monkeys, peccaries, and birds. So, while you stroll through this park-like/zoo-like setting, it’s easy to forget that the monkeys you see are native to the site; they weren’t plopped into the setting for the benefit of the public, but rather the public has been plopped into the monkeys’ habitat.

We saw a small troop of Squirrel Monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) running around the rooftops, totally habituated to our presence.

Squirrel Monkey, or as one of my colleagues calls them, "Little Eddie Munsters."

 A couple of days later, I finally had the opportunity to see a Brazilian primate field site. Jefferson and I met at a marina at the edge of town and hired a boat to take us up the Rio Negro. We travelled through a picturesque flooded forest, as I tried mostly unsuccessfully to spot birds along the way.

Our destination was Tupé Reserve (see map above), where Jefferson has collared two groups of Pied Tamarins. He uses radio-telemetry to track their movements to gain a better understanding of this species’ range (and behavior). While in the forest, we saw the Pied Tamarins several times (though, alas, never clear enough for a proper photo). We also saw the Golden-faced Saki (Pithecia pithecia chryosocephala) on one occasion.

Although the field assistant, Baru, said he SMELLED Howling Monkeys, we didn’t actually see any (so no tally mark for that one).

It wouldn't be a walk through the forest without a herp or two. Here's a toad found in Tupé. Though it's said to be common, since I've never seen this species before....it was a nice find.)

When we returned to camp, I was introduced to Baru’s family – and a pet monkey. They had somehow come into possession of an orphaned Brown-backed Black Bearded Saki Monkey (Chiropotes satanas) that they were raising as a pet. This is another endangered species, endemic to Brazil. Plans are to eventually release it, but I’m not so sure how that will go….. (She's pictured at right, on Jefferson's shoulder.)

Our boat had returned by early afternoon to take us back to Manaus, so we left lovely Tupé. As we drove from the marina back to the port, we passed along a rather busy two-lane street that had forest fragments on either side. With the car windows down, we could easily hear the forest around us: birds, insects, and – yes, you guessed it – monkeys. We stopped the car and, on either side of the road, were several Pied Tamarins and Golden-faced Sakis! This time, the setting allowed for decent photography, some of which I share here.

 

Pied Tamarin (Saguinus bicolor), living sympatrically with the Golden-faced Saki (Pithecia pithecia).

(Left: mom & kid; right: male.)

We spent some time with these guys before heading back to the port. All in all, Manaus was a very pleasant stop on my Sea Monkey Safari. Brazil has 116 species/subspecies. Of these, I saw only five – but they were a good five (three are endemic and two of those are endangered). So, I feel the monkey quest is off to a good start. Next stop, Ghana!

Bonus photo:

Which species is pictured here? (Look closely.)