Don’t stand under the monkeys!

There are several good reasons to not stand under the monkeys. First, it is harder to follow them if you are directly under them. You’d be surprised how easy it is to lose a dozen monkeys! Next, they drop things. Like the fruit they are done with. There is one fruit (which actually tastes really good; on this note I am not trying everything the monkeys eat but I think we both like bamboo and ma ka mang) that is about the size and shape of a flattened mango- except it is much heavier! They take about 20 minutes to eat one fruit, which is great because they stay in one place and are easier to draw . . . but then they drop the bits they don’t eat. Which means if you are under them you can get hit.

The monkeys also “drop” sticks and branches as they move through the canopy. Because it is monsoon season, there is a lot of rotten, dead matter in the canopy, and I can say from personal experience that it hurts to get hit! So standing to the side helps avoid this as well.

Finally, if you are standing under the monkeys you can be hit by monkey poop or pee. They don’t ever “aim” for you, and I don’t think it is their fault if you are hit, it is more of a wrong place-wrong time thing. I’ve been pooped on once (ironically as I was off to go for a pee myself) and it smells REALLY bad. According to Ines, one of the PhD’s of Team Macaque, the poop smells different based on what the monkeys eat (high protein is the worst). I’ve also been peed on once, but that was totally worth it. The monkeys were in this huge tree fall area and came down to the ground to drink. It is rare that we get to see them do this and they are super nervous because it is more dangerous for them to come down, so it is really cool to see them drink. In this instance, the monkeys were drinking out of a pool created in the place where a tree had been uprooted and I walked far around them and sat on a log nearby to watch. But with drinking comes peeing (Rich got peed on multiple times after being able to watch one group drink for an hour!) and the great spot I had chosen to sit was where the monkeys were headed next. They stayed very low and some were within just a few meters of me, but I neglected to notice that one had moved directly over me . . .