zombie [girl] zaaAaaaAwwmbie [girl..]

i'm fairly sure that a little part of my psyche died today. i woke up monkeys today after about 9 hours in the field yesterday and about 7 the day before. waking up monkeys entails rising at about ohh 3:30am and hiking at a fast pace to their sleeping tree. we found them drinking coffee and reading the new york times in a guanacaste tree at around 5:00am.

guanacaste is a neat troop because the juveniles have massive play bouts that are pretty entertaining to watch. here is a video i took of them playing near the ground.

Untitled from K. Suzie Fatkin on Vimeo.

action shot from playtime.


i am pretty sure that maxine hates me because yesterday she scared the wits out of me about 8 times. i would be trying to id another monkey, or watching a play session, or having sexy time with malfoy and all of a sudden i would look to my left and about an armlength away would be maxy, threatfacing me. it reminded me of a cheesy horror film where they show really close up shots of the disfigured killer (maybe with psycho music in the background?)... here's a picture i took of her threat facing with a subadult male.


she usually threat faces with the alpha male babaganouj (who transferred from Los Valles aka the food group.) when he came into the group he killed all of the infants (infanticide) so that the nursing females would go into estrus quicker and he could sire the new infants (hypothesis). he's a bruiser. i want to make a tshirt with a picture of him that reads "this is NOT what a feminist looks like." muah muuuaah.


yesterday was also the first time that i navigated the forest by myself. we all split up (and i didn't even have a gps) and walked trails separately to cover more ground. it was alone time that i desperately needed.. and i also got to enjoy the forest, hearing and seeing more than i can with another hiker. here are some picture s that i took during my hike.

this is monkey comb. according to the natural history of costa rican mammals, capuchins have been seen to rub themselves with monkey comb.


an acacia tree (which has ants that live in its thorns in a symbiotic relationship... and their bite hurts like crazy-- DOUBLE THREAT!!).


penguin bromeliads (Bromelia pinguin) have thorns all along their leaves and are all over! the capuchins like to eat their fruit.


this is what we would call a "trail." see the two flags? yeah i don't either.


and here is a portrait of me with the monkeys...


oh yeah! and i did a practice focal follow (where you follow an individual for 10 minutes and record everything they do) of maxine and she ate three baby birds. and they were still alive as she bit into their naked flesh flitting and flapping about. alright. i'll leave you with that image.