Perhaps one of my favourite moments on my recent trip to Costa Rica was an evening spent conversing with a howler monkey.
From the balcony of our room in Manuel Antonio, a lone male somewhere in the pitch black of night was letting the universe know he was there. Not to be outdone conversationally, I wanted him to know I was around as well, and so I joined in.
I am confident that some of our hotel mates thought the neighbour a little mad, but the invisible howler seemed to be quite animated about the company. Animated enough that the fearless one in our family, my brother with whom I was travelling, finally asked me to cool it, lest we have someone else sharing our room.
-
- This large fellow was quite hidden among the branches until our eagle-eyed guide noted him about the Tarcoles River near Jaco.
-
- A troop of capuchin entertained, and in some cases tortured, the tourists of Manuel Antonio.
-
- Some capuchin were less trusting of the throngs below them at Manuel Antonio
-
- From our balcony at Manuel Antonio we could see the spider monkeys play a high wire act.
-
- A playful lot jumping from branch to branch, the spider monkeys of Manuel Antonio were simians of few words.
-
- My desire for a telephoto went through the roof as a troop of howlers traversed the canopy across the highway outside Samara.
-
- As monkeys go, these guys were lumbering giants who were not in a hurry as they wound through the Samara trees.
-
- I swear that 2/3 the body weight of a howler monkey is in their testicles…even on the females.
-
- Slowly but assuredly the troop traversed the tree branches, the leader far ahead and very loud.
-
- Deft of foot and curly of tail, they knew they were the cocks of the walk (or climb)
-
- The journey was a real family affair as you may just be able to make out a young howler clinging to its mother
-
- Best as I could tell from the distance, this was the fellow making all the noise across from our Samara hotel
createdbyrcw 
I’m not a fan of monkeys, but this post made them seem a little less creepy. Sounds like quite an experience. Great pix, by the way 🙂
Thanks…like I said, they tended to be far enough away that I’ve lost all detail in trying to make them visible. Definitely a telephoto lens in my future.
And I have to say, I had a much more intelligible conversation with the howler than I have with a lot of humans in my life.