Rain season has now started which means we get rain daily and a lot of happy volunteers since doing laundry in the river is no longer necessary!

It also means the forest is blooming again which is both enjoyed by volunteers and animals when it comes to the daily leaf picking. But rain is not the only thing that have happened here at Esperanza Verde, our spider monkeys Lucio & Rimaq have finally gotten to enjoy their new cage, we´ve had a release of the female capuchin Panchita and much more!

Monkeys

Samara & Pashko (baby female and male woolly monkeys)

Two weeks ago we opened up Lucia cage and after a few minutes they both came outside and started to explore the surroundings. They both still get milk three times a day with the other baby monkeys and food from a plate. Both are often seen playing with the other monkeys and Willow has taken on the responsibility of looking after Pashko.

Chiquita & Lupa (baby female woolly monkeys), Khali & Cinty (baby male and female capuchin monkeys)

Khali is now a big boy and sleeps outside the entire night. It took some hard work and determination from the volunteers but now he finally goes up in a tree with the other monkeys to sleep. All of our baby monkeys are getting along well with our new baby woolly monkeys.

Sira (female night-monkey)

Since a week ago Sira has been outside for the entire night and let back into her cage in the morning. She is becoming a big girl and she loves jumping from tree to tree and just playing around. A few days ago we moved her sleeping box outside, so she can now choose when to go in and out. She loves her new “five star luxury hotel”! She still gets milk once a day before sunset and a plate of food next to the box when it gets dark.

Chaira (female capuchin monkey)

A week ago Chaira was found with a big mass on her right chest. Douwe, the visiting veterinarian, Karl, and Olivia took a look at her and it turned out to be a hematoma. She was kept in the clinic for a week for observation but her wound looks a lot better so a few days later she could be let out again to join the rest.

Panchita (female capuchin monkey)

Panchita has now been released and the first few days she was seen a lot around Olivia and Douwes house, playing with the laundry. She also paid a visit to the volunteer house and seemed to be coping good with outside life. Unfortunately she has not been seen for a few days now. Not all releases always go that smoothly, and for a monkey which was raised with humans only for her first 6 years of life, it can be a hard change! We do hope she will soon turn up again.

Rimaq & Lucio (spider monkeys)

They have now moved to their new cage named Rimaq. It took a few days before they were comfortable with all the new changes. But now they both enjoy their big, new cage and can be seen playing a lot with their new toys.

Other Mammals

Young coatis (male Vasari & females Nola and Chuni)

A week ago we moved the coati babies to La Sapa cage (where our male spider monkeys used to stay) to prepare them for the outside world. A few days after we decided to put in one of the already adult female coatis (Saya), that way the babies get a chance to be introduced to the group. We often saw them playing together or cuddling in their box. After some more days we we opened the release hatch and Vasari, Nola & Chuni have now joined the coati group and are seen following Saya around.

Kinkajous (male Kiko & female Kila)

Sadly Kiko was attacked again the wild kinkajou male, and again bitten in his face, this time his nose. So they are now again back in their cage and Kikos wounds are healing well. We still hope that we soon can release them once again so they can enjoy the free life in the lush jungle. We haven’t given up trying.

Birds

Baby cobalt-winged parakeets (Luke, Jack, Everell, William & Joe also called Luke and the Daltons)

Luke and the Daltons are growing up fast. They now eat only solid food and a few days ago they moved from the clinic into Pepe cage and joined the other parakeets. We hope they will learn from the other parakeets and become warry enough again so they might have a change for release in the future.

Rosalinda, (swallow-wing), Picor & Ocor (White-winged parakeets)

Rosalinda has now moved out of the clinic into Casa cage, where she has company from Picor & Ocor, our two permanent residents parakeets. They seem to enjoy the new bigger space and they get along really good. Volunteers still help out with catching crickets and grasshoppers for Rosalinda.

Churi (Many-banded aracari)

Churi is now back in his old cage, he didn’t find the Casa cage to interesting and was somewhat unhappy so we decided to move him back to his old cage, Lucia. Now he is making his happy sounds again every time a volunteer walks by or just goes into his cage to give him a few minutes of company.

Reptiles

Marie-Antoinette (Yellow-footed tortoise)

A friend of Kayla found this 3 kg female totoise and turned her over to us. She is now residing up in the clinic. Parasites were found in her poop and she is now getting treatment. Hopefully she can soon be released again.

Construction

Zambo Cage

The construction of the new Zambo cage has started and we hope to finish it as soon as possible so Zambo can move outside and enjoy a bigger cage surrounded by the jungle. It will make it easier to take him on his daily walks, as leashing him to take him out of the clinic is turning out to be a big game for him on some days.

Volunteers

The last two weeks the volunteers have done two forest walks with Machico which is always a nice experience for them. They learn a lot about the jungle; trees, plants and some animals.

Our volunteers have also done a night walk with Douwe where they for example saw a caiman, scorpions, water snakes and a lot of fishes and spiders.

Our volunteer group is also growing which means more people for card games in the afternoon and new stories to be told.

One of our volunteers was accompanied by her father, Karl Nuss, who is a Professor and Veterinarian. He was here for a few days and helped us out in the clinic with the castration of Rabito our Red Brocket deer and one of Kaylas rabbits. We appreciate his help and are grateful for the knowledge he brought.