Nearly every time I walk on the jungle trails in the Tambopata region of the Amazon rainforest I come across awesome wildlife.
The rainforests of Tambopata are teaming with it. It is always very rewarding seeing some of the elusive animals that reside in the Peruvian jungle. Such as the jaguar, the giant anteater, the river otters, the anaconda, the sloth, the harpy eagle or the Capuchin monkeys to name a few. But witnessing animal behavior in action right in front of you is always the most fulfilling thing that anyone can experience. Irrespective of whether you are watching a rare species or not.
Part One: The Stolen Eggs
After a long and painful morning trek, I was returning to the Refugio Amazonas jungle lodge for lunch at 1 pm, tired, thirsty, and hungry so wasn’t walking quietly anymore; in fact. At the rate I was going, I would be back in 15 minutes, leaving me enough time for a quick shower before lunch. After ten, suddenly a Brown Capuchin Monkey (Cebus apella) jumps onto a tree right in front of me. Because it is so close to me, I decide to stop and photograph it. A couple of shots later, the rest of its troop arrive and start foraging for food around me.
This seems like a good opportunity for some monkey shots so I remain with the troop and keep taking photos of the first capuchin that jumped in front of me. Even though this individual wasn’t the largest and strength, it seemed to be the leader of the troop as all the other members were following it.
Some wise-looking capuchins. Photo by Louis Guillot
Brown Capuchin
Brown Capuchin
After following them for about twenty minutes I remember that lunch is nearing so I had better get going again. Just as I start to walk away, I hear a big rustling in a nearby tree and see a Spix’s Guan (a kind of jungle turkey) fly out of the tree in a very agitated manner. Seconds later, all the capuchins rush to where the guan flew out from. It turns out this was its nest! It is commonly known that bird eggs and other small animals such as lizards constitute part of the capuchin’s diet. The first individual to enter the nest was the capuchin leader. As quickly as he entered the nest, he exits it…
But it is not empty-handed: it is carrying two of the guan’s eggs, one in each hand pressed up against its chest. While the other monkeys are distracted by the discovery of the nest, the thief tries to make a break for it. Except, how can you be quick jumping from tree to tree when you are a monkey and you cannot use your arms as you are carrying one egg in each?
So the capuchin starts hopping awkwardly from branch to branch on its two hind legs. If it wants to eat both eggs, it must get to a safe place away from its troop, as they will not hesitate to mob it to steal its treasure. To its dismay, the other monkeys quickly realize that the nest is empty and start pursuing it. The chase is on! It starts running away again. As it does it cracks a hole in one of the eggs and starts eating it! Just as I’m wondering how greedy this little capuchin is, it suddenly drops the half-eaten egg…
