More Progress

I retrieved my first fecal sample (and correctly identified the individual) all on my own today! I also was not lunged at once. Progress progress.

Also for those of you who watch Breaking Bad (and if you don't, get on it!), I just want to say what a spectacular job Vince Gilligan, the writers, the cast, and the rest of the crew on the finale. Though I am sad to see the show end, I feel very content with how everything was wrapped up.

Sunday Funday

Here's my attempt at being artistic with a photograph of a monkey.

Let's go to the beach

Today Stacey, a girl from NYC who is working with the University of Chicago research group, arrived and moved in to the house next door. She has a very interesting backstory- art student who became very interested in primates during art school and began reading up on everything she could, then eventually began doing fieldwork. She brought along her bulldog, Charlie, who is absolutely adorable! After helping Stacey with her internet, we took Charlie to the beach and went swimming (and taught Charlie how to swim). The water is so blue and incredibly warm, almost like bathwater! Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes, I was stung by a jellyfish. But it wasn't too bad- I was able to walk home just fine.

An unrelated picture of an adolescent relaxing under a tree.

Chillin' with my males

As I am learning to identify the 100+ adults in my group, I am starting with the males since there are fewer of them and they appear pretty distinct. So, for the next week, I will be hanging out with the males of the group and getting to know them. It has been going well- I've got about 10 of them down so far. And, unlike the females who are aggressive to protect their babies, most of the males are pretty chill. Of course, there are always those few who have a stick up their ass.

A very chill male eating grass as he waits for the monkey chow to arrive. 

Silly monkey, water is for drinking

Since Cayo is held to the same standards as a biomedical research lab, CPRC is required to feed the monkeys and put out fresh water all over the island. Some times the monkeys (and iguanas) drink it. Most of the time they use it for entertainment, sitting around and splashing the water out and watching fresh water get pumped back in. It's an enormous waste of clean water, if you ask me. But it's also pretty entertaining to watch!

Progress

I correctly identified my first monkey today (only 99 more to go)! And I only was lunged at once - as opposed to the on average 3.5 times a day I usually get lunged at by adult males on their period. To celebrate (and for your enjoyment) I took this overly adorable picture of a baby rhesus macaque climbing around in a tree (close to his mother, of course).

Iguanas de pollo

Yes, there are iguanas on Cayo! And they are enormous. This photo doesn't do them justice, but I estimate the largest one I've seen so far is about 6 feet long. Some of them have bright orange undersides and many of them have tails with thick black strips. I was talking to Josue, a fellow researcher from Puerto Rico, about the iguanas and how they are invasive to Cayo and all of Puerto Rico. He told me that the locals call the iguanas "iguanas de pollo" because they taste like chicken.

Jesus Monkeys

When our boat arrived at the Cayo dock this morning, we found a few peripheral males that had been chased off the island into the water by another group of peripheral males. They were standing on rocks to avoid swimming in the clear, warm ocean water (unlike the younger monkeys who love jumping off trees into puddles).

Tostones

When Janet took us to Walmart (and Sam's Club!- who knew it'd be here), I bought a big bag of green plantains because I wanted to try my hand at cooking like a Puerto Rican. I waited a few days for the totally green plantains to become somewhat green and yellow, then decided I would try to make some tostones. Yeah, I know, I semi-burnt a few of them and they look nothing like the picture. But they tasted pretty good, and Joel (who has been working here for two years) said I did a good job with them.

They look sweet but taste like french fries. Too bad...

UPDATE: (9/23) I made tostones again tonight and didn't burn a single one. They all looked like the photo.

Running ("Caminando")

I went for a run on the beach today! And by run I mean jog. And by jog I mean stop and walk every 10 minutes. It was probably 3 miles round trip. I didn't take any photos because I do not plan on carrying my camera with me while I'm running and sweating even more than I do in my bedroom (did I mention no a/c?). God it's like a constant wet spa here. Anyway, since I didn't take any photos of the beach here's a photo of the view of the beach from my house.

I'd say about a 25 second walk.

Aguacates

I came across a colony of adolescents on Cayo today. They were just old enough to be independent of their mothers but young enough to not have a direction as of yet. 

A few days ago, Nahiri (a census-taker) and I were talking with William (a boatman), and he mentioned it was avocado (aguacate in Spanish) season. Nahiri told William she wanted him to bring her an avocado from his tree and I added in the fact that I love avocados. Nahiri then asked William to pick an extra for me. I didn't think he would actually follow through on that, but sure enough, two days later William handed me an avocado larger than my hand! Ahh, good ole' non-US avocados. Bigger and butterier. 

Identifications

I began work today learning the identifications of the monkeys in my group. According to the other researchers this process takes about 3 weeks. At one point, a female walked up to a dominant male and started grooming him, a process that reminds me a lot of a trip to the hairdressers. The females part the fur, search for bugs, then slap the fur away (pretty forcefully, in fact). It's pretty funny to watch!

First Impressions

Today was my first working day on Cayo, a field site that is held to the same standards of a biomedical research facility (meaning the monkeys are all fed and given fresh water, though most of them still drink from puddles anyway). There are so many monkeys on Cayo- to give some perspective, it takes about 20 minutes to walk the length of the island and about 5 minutes to walk the width, yet there are over 1000 rhesus macaques on the island. The group that I will be working with is 100 focal adults and a little over 200 individuals total.

Sleeping In

I was up reading until 4:30am so I slept in until noon. I went for a quick walk on the beach and found this "Danger, Tsunamis" sign. Apparently the government warns people about the danger of tsunamis but doesn't tell them what to actually do if one hits.

The beach and Cayo Santiago (yep, it's hurricane season)

Janet, the CPRC secretary, took me, Joel, and Carrie into Humacao to do some food shopping. At Walmart, I found this beauty. It's a strange mix between a kiwi and a cucumber, and I am still not sure that I like the taste.

New friends

I took a walk on the beach today and met this little guy and a few of his friends on a coconut tree.

Then, upon entering the gate to the house, I met this furry feline hanging out by our front door.

Arrival

I have arrived in Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico and am enjoing the hot and humid weather (and the relentless songs of coquís). Tomorrow I begin field research on Cayo Santiago, helping Joel, part of the Duke research team, with his research project on rhesus macaques. I'm living with Joel and Carrie, a rising graduate student, in a simple house no more than a minute walk from the beach. My room is smaller than a typical dorm at school, but I packed lightly so it isn't a problem.

I'm going to try something a bit different with this blog. Instead of focusing on written posts, I'm going to try and post a photo a day. Meaning this blog will mainly consist of monkey photos. Enjoy!