I am going to take you back in time a little bit to
introduce to O Group and share with you how we got to know them. Individual identification of non-sexually dimorphic, arboreal primates like capuchins can be extremely
difficult, especially when they are only partially habituated to humans. They
are incredibly fast, never stop moving and spend a lot of their time high in
the forest canopy. It is impossible to tell how many individuals there actually
are when you find a group. You see maybe three or four but the trees all around
you rustle and squeak and you know there are more monkeys watching you that you
can’t see! Very frustrating.
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| The boys trying to show me who's boss back in June 2014. |
So we decided to try something different. In 2014 we built
two feeding platforms in the Atlantic Forest, one in the centre of F Groups
range and one in the centre of O Groups range. The original purpose of these
platforms was to let the monkeys learn that tasty treats were available on a
semi-regular basis so that we could eventually capture some individuals and fit
them with radio collars. To make sure that
the food was being taken by monkeys we set up camera traps (there are all sorts
of creatures in that forest that are more than happy to steal corn including coatis,
tayras and plush crested jays!). In July and August 2015, amazing monkey volunteer
Emily Briggs and I carried out intensive baiting, refilling the tables with
corn and bananas every three or four days. The HD videos of the monkeys that
the cameras provided allowed us to finally
individually identify the members of O Group. We watched the 196 videos of
monkeys frame-by-frame and identified the monkeys based on different physical
characteristics including body size; shape, size and colour of tufts; shape of
the black cap on the forehead; shape and colouration of facial masks and
distinctive scars or wounds. If we got a clear shot of the genitalia we could
also assign a sex.
Damien, the dominant male, was the first monkey I was ever
able to identify and his belligerent temperament and enormous size made him a
firm favourite of both the volunteers who helped out on the project and myself.
Hades, the second-in-command always seemed to be in a foul mood, quick to
threaten and throw branches at observers. In March 2016 we captured and fitted
Hades with a VHF collar. Bev appeared to be the dominant female, even though
she is the smallest. Alien is definitely the most curious of the adult females
and is often first to come down and investigate observers. She has been known
to try and urinate on people so it is often sensible to move away when she gets
too close!
This study provided the first detailed information on group
demographics of Sapajus cay in
Paraguay and has been accepted for publication in the journal Neotropical
Primates. Watch this space for more information about when the paper will be
available!
Within the last month, things have changed. In August 2016 a
new group was spotted in the South Atlantic Forest, right in the centre of O
Group’s territory. Damien has been missing for over a month and while he may
have moved to the new group, we are assuming that he has died. It looks as
though Hades has taken up the mantle of dominant male and a new adult male we
have named Macho has been spotted hanging around very close to O Group.
Hopefully over the next few months we will get some insight into the power
struggles happening within O Group and between them and new group. I am willing
to bet that Trump Vs. Clinton has got nothing on the drama playing out in our
Atlantic Forest right now!
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| Hades today with his battle scars. |
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