If you’re among the unfortunate majority who have never sniffed a spider monkey’s “pecs,” the monkey wraps its arms around your head and pulls it toward the scent gland on its chest in a friendly embrace.

There’s no discernible odor to mere humans, but it’s the thought that counts.

“Embraces and pectoral sniffs occur frequently when individual spider monkeys in a community approach each other, or when individuals of the same community reunite after a period of separation There is a higher rate of male-male friendly behavior, including embraces and pectoral sniffing, in males than females.” (Spider Monkeys; Behavior, Ecology and Evolution of the Genus Ateles, ed Christina J. Campbell 2008.)

Our regent biologist Olivier Castro Morales visited a few days after the monkeys arrived, and Chiquito wrapped his arms around Olivier’s head and offered him a pectoral sniff within seconds of meeting him. Olivier handled it well.

The captive spider monkeys Olivier oversees at a animal rescue center about an hour from us, are psychologically damaged from being in a small cage for so many years and extremely aggressive toward humans. Having one of them coming at your head would not be a good thing.

That being said, Olivier thinks Chiquito needs to spend some time alone, as does animal behaviorist David Peiro, the unofficial godfather of our spider monkeys who visited two days later.

I presumed that since Chiquito wouldn’t be separated from his mother in the wild, it would be psychologically unhealthy for him to be left alone in the cage. But Olivier and David are concerned that the monkeys will end up as pets if they’re too dependent on us, which is the last thing we want.

It will certainly make our lives easier if someone doesn’t need to be in the cage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week… although we were willing to make that commitment until Lolita is old enough to keep Chiquito company.

Since Chiquito won’t release the only (or last) person in his cage to let them out the door, the use of force will be necessary until he learns the rules.

David demonstrated by yelling “No” and used a broom handle to pry Chiquito off his leg. But it was hard for me to watch…, especially when Chiquito cried and looked distressed. Fortunately Paul was loud and firm under David’s supervision, and Chiquito backed away from Paul, and the door, when ordered to do so. Talk about tough love, though. I think I felt worse than Chiquito.

And now Chiquito is depressed. When he’s left alone in the cage he wraps himself in what David Peiro calls his “security blanket.” Spider monkeys aren’t solitary animals, and in the wild he would live in a “fission-fusion” society of multiple monkeys.

I can’t do this to Chiquito. If he doesn’t cheer up we’ll have to relocate him to another facility where he has company, because it will probably be at least six months before Lolita is big enough to be left alone with him.

At this point they haven’t been together except for a quick photo the first day… she’s too fragile, and he’s too strong, to risk making a mistake and, we have a very depressed spider monkey.

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It’s clear that Monkey Mom Michele and Monkey Dad Paul Gawenka are doing this for the love these incredible monkeys – it certainly is not for the money which they have been spending to try and provide an environment where they can rest and recover before they are released…

After we published our first article in this series, I and a few other VIP Members paid some money into Paul Gawenka’s PayPal account (pgawenka@yahoo.com) to help with the costs for a new enclosure…

Michele and Paul don’t have some fancy ‘charity’ that you can contribute to but they’ve given us their personal guarantee that every penny that you may give goes towards helping the animals – they don’t want a dime for themselves – so please log into your PayPal account and follow my lead and send them a US$100 to pgawenka@yahoo.com

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.