Colonel Mustard, in the mango tree, with the candlestick...

**WARNING: Although I have tried to keep this post toned down, it may still be unsuitable for some readers!**

It didn't seem worth mentioning (not like anything else in the last post was either) but when I left the forest on Thursday night, I smelled something awful. There were a lot of crows and vultures in the area, plus a thick line of ants all swarming in the same direction. Though it was dusk already, I followed my nose and the ants. Something was dead in the forest, I was just hoping that it wasn't a howler. Even more, I was hoping it wasn't Wrinkle Belly, who had been strangely absent from the North group all day.

I didn't find anything and headed home, not thinking much of it. On Friday I had to make a phone call to the Nicaraguan ministry of the environment (long story, maybe another time) so I did not go out to the forest. Saturday morning I was back out and found monkeys on the camino (its what I call the main path up into the forest). Both the north and south group were together-- although quite spread out-- near where I'd smelled the stench (about which I had since forgotten) on Thursday. I followed my focal animal into the mango tree at C6 and watched her forage. All of a sudden I looked down and saw tufts of howler fur on the forest floor. Most was the short black fur that covers the majority of their bodies, but some was the long reddish-amber fur that they have on their sides. I noticed the stench again, and within a few moments I found the body. I won't go into the gory details: let it suffice to say that there was enough of it there for me to know it was a howler, but not enough for me to identify the individual or even its sex.

I felt sick and I still do. My big fear, of course, is that its Wrinkle Belly. The individual was adult-sized, though its possible that it may have been a sub-adult: this age is supposedly when they face the greatest risk of mortality, either from aggression or starvation, as they strike out on their own and try to enter a new group. A few weeks ago, I actually saw a sub-adult male get violently chased out of the North group, and I've been wondering what happened to him. But still. It could be any monkey. The location is a place where both groups go, so I don't even know which group he/she is from. I don't know the cause of death either. It could have been a violent ending (Colonel Mustard! In the mango tree! With the candle stick!), but it may not have been. Lately I've been thinking that the monkeys seem awfully scrawny; maybe they just aren't getting enough to eat and for this one at least, it couldn't go on any longer.

The shrewd part of me is thinking that I need to preserve the skeleton and find some way to bring it back so we can use it as a teaching specimen at the University. But even if I could do that (I can't even imagine how many governmental ministries I'd need to deal with), I'm not sure if I should. Somehow, having a proper burial and singing "Danny Boy" might be more appropriate (Cara, remember when you sang at the funeral for my tadpoles?).

All things considered, I am mainly just concerned that it was poor old Wrinkle Belly. I am writing while out in the forest with the North group and have not seen him all day. Granted, the group has sub-divided (there are only 7 monkeys here-- less than half the group). I don't know where the others are, so I keep hoping that he's with them and will eventually turn up. I will post any new developments as they occur.

Thanks for reading.