Scorpion Tales

 

As we move away from the wet, cold and tough winter insects begin to become abundant in the forest once more.  The can be both a blessing and a curse.  Some of them are marvelous and wonderful to look at.  Others are irritating and insufferable.  And some have a useful function, such as the swarms of flies which are attached to a newly deposited hormone sample from a monkey (Faeces).  This allows us easy spotting of the sample but having to fight the flies for the sample is less desirable.

Colourful Caterpillar

 

This is also a good opportunity for the monkeys to add some protein to their diet.  One of the best examples of this is when a monkey turns a rock to find a Scorpion underneath.  They will grab and grab at the Scorpion close to the tail until the tail is broken off and the threat of a sting has been neutralised.  Below is a link to Eric successfully dis-armouring a Scorpion before consumption.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDb2bOjepYA

Sadly the juveniles learn this through trial and error and recently we saw Garry in the Scarlet group get stung on the hand.  She did not give up though and finally got her meal but after spend a long time looking sorry for herself.  With such a sore price for a novice she will soon learn the hard way how to expertly consume such prey as Courtney demonstrated for us below.

The leftovers

 

Chris

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *