Getting started

I’ve had a bit of a crash course in the forest and looking for our monkeys.  The forest is definitely different than acacia woodland- much less visibility of course, which really has me thinking about my study and my following measure.  And of course I’m a bit slow, as I’m a little unsure of my footing; it’s a bit hard to look and walk, especially since you’ve got to look up too (ah, partially arboreal primates!).  Plus I’ve not been in the field for a couple years…looking forward to getting my forest legs.  Also, there is so much more noise here- birds, squirrels, insects.  As I’m walking around I keep hearing noise and I’ll think it’s something, and of course it is just birds.  In my defense there is a bird here whose call really sounds like juvenile baboons fighting and screaming.  There is also a cicada that sounds a bit like an air raid siren.  The macaques blend in pretty well too- that dark color hides them nicely especially when it’s a bit darker in the forest and they are in trees.  The size of some of the trees here is amazing- not just the height, but how wide their trunks are.  I walked inside this huge tree that a strangler fig has taken over- plenty of room inside and can look straight up (I will take a picture of this at some point).  We’ve got tarsiers here too, turns out they sleep in a strangler fig trunk our animals sleep in (and slept near today).  

I have learned that kecap manis (made from soy, like a thick sweet soy sauce) is amazing…I can eat a lot of plain white rice with that stuff.  Which is good, cause we even have rice at breakfast.  Fruit is awesome of course- we picked up some mangos right from the source on our way here from Manado (about 2 hours away)…so good.

The ocean is beautiful- I spent some of my afternoon studying behavioral codes on the beach.  The surf is very rough right now- apparently happens during the rainy season and is calmer in the dry season.  Plus, quick drop and coral = getting slammed into the sand not good.  So, I’ve not actually tried to swim, but just wading and hanging out there.  And catching hermit crabs to take pictures.

The ocean also has a functional value to me, as I learned on my very first day actually with one of our macaque groups (yesterday).  We arrived in the group and got quite a greeting; I have never been lip smacked to by my study animals so much before (females and juveniles especially).  The juveniles were especially curious, coming up and staring at me (not so much today).  One bratty juvenile male even climbed up behind me and smacked my head.  At the moment, I’m just learning to tell the individuals apart, and the age classes.  There was a consortship in the group, so I decided to follow them a bit, cause why not?  Might as well try to learn those individuals and check it out.  Well, turns out consorts go to the edge of the group in this species too.  I ended up pretty far from everyone else; we keep in touch with our own version of contact calls (not radios) and I couldn’t hear anyone for a while.  So, when my animals disappeared high up a tree, I started to look for them.  Right…a bit different than acacia woodland.  Fortunately, we have a nice trail system and I start going back and forth in the area, looking and calling.  Nothing.  Then, the rain starts.  The monkeys always sit quietly in the rain and it is loud- so the chances of my finding anyone are slim.  Then I realize this is why I need to carry my cell phone (I’m not great at navigating the trails but someone could’ve grabbed me if nothing else once I called and they told me where they were).  At this point, I’m concerned everyone else I’m with is going to be worried…and I can hear the ocean, so I know how to get home.  So, I walk back to camp, get my phone and call them to tell them I’m at camp (and not, you know, lost…just lost the group).  And now I bring my cell phone.  This also means I can head home whenever I am done for the day, which helps since I like to look over all my notes for the day (one person follows until the sleep tree, but I can’t do alone anyway).  Note to worried people (ie. Mom) reading this: we have no predators or elephants, I have a compass 9go north and hit the beach) and my phone has gps with the camp marked.

One day was also enough for me to see huge differences in dominance rank and consortship behavior…I don’t think my olive baboons understood priority of access at all (males queue for access to resources by rank). 

I’m learning individuals, which is tough in this species- no tail, all black hair and faces, in a forest (ie, shadows, hard to see features).  They all kind of look alike at first, and I‘m glad I’ve done work with other primates before.  I’ve finished day 2 and I have a grasp on the 7 males in the group I’ve started with…as long as I have some time to confirm at least.  It’s a start though and a pretty fast one.  Funny enough, I’m better at faces/sitting animals in this species, mostly due to the fact that most males have a scar or two, and broken, even missing, fingers.  Seriously, I can recognize Ito by his fingers.

So, everything is coming along well here; once I can id individuals a bit better (and get better at figuring out where the group is, directions they are moving), I’m going to start working with our handheld data collectors for notes at least (in our codes), then I will start following consortships to collect preliminary data.