Jocote fruit

This morning my eye felt completely better. I am amazed at my quick recovery. I headed over to Simeon’s house; the plan was that he was going to cut a whole bunch of trails for me today. When I got there, I chatted with his family a bit and then we headed out. On the way, he told me that he had gone back and cut the trails yesterday afternoon. He’d gotten a few other guys to go out, and they’d worked until 6pm. So, either I didn’t understand our plan, or he knew that my puny arms weren’t going to be of much assistance in making the trails and he went ahead and got the job done without me.

It was a good thing he was with me; trails or no trails, I would never have found the monkeys on my own. The monkeys (including Wrinkle Belly) were way interior on the “north” forest patch, more than 500 meters away from where they had been the day before (this is a huge distance for a howler monkey). When we got there, we discovered why they had traveled so far. This part of the forest was thick with fruiting Jocote (Spondias mombin) trees, and the monkeys love it. Strangely, they eat pretty much only the unripe, or green, fruits…so I guess they’ve got to hit the tree at just the right time before all the fruits ripen.

After making sure that I would not get lost in this interior forest patch, Simeon left to go home and I spent the rest of the day watching the monkeys. It was great to get more data today. I had thought I’d either be laid up because of my eye or cutting trails with Simeon, so collecting more data today helped me feel a little less like the Worst Primatologist Ever. Tomorrow I’m hoping to collect some leaves so that I can use the Toughness Tester this weekend.