SPIDER MONKEY R & R (Rehabilitation and Release)
  • HOME
  • THE MONKEY DIARIES
  • OUR CENTER
  • Spider Monkey Sanctuaries
  • The Monkey Videos
  • Spider Monkey Trivia
  • CHIQUITO
  • LOLITA
  • New Page

The Jungle Place, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

8/15/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
     I reserved one day of my trip to the IPS (International Primatological Society) Congress in Cancun, Mexico, to visit The Jungle Place in nearby Playa Del Carmen...about an hour's drive.  Although it was closed to the public in August, Heidi graciously welcomed a fellow spider monkey rehabilitator and the experience was invaluable.  
    While their self-imposed "limit" was reached years ago, Heidi and her husband have continued to welcome each and every spider monkey rescued from the illegal pet trade.  They currently have a population of 26, which includes two juveniles conceived and born (both times during a full moon!) at the sanctuary.  
    As the number of monkeys has increased the number of cages has too, but because they're linked by skybridges (that can be closed if necessary),  the monkeys travel through what has grown into a  compound.  It's a brilliant design.  [The only thing that didn't work was building the cages around the large trees inside them, which have been stripped bare of all leaves.]

Picture
Short, sloping skybridge between two cages.
Picture
Long, horizontal skybridge between two cages.
     With the exception of one older, aggressive male, Heidi still occasionally spends time in the cages with the monkeys...but for the most part she's "hands off."  She was particularly determined not to be a surrogate grandmother, and the female who produced two offspring has successfully raised them herself.
     The Jungle Place is a magical place.  And a safe haven for primates rapidly losing their habitat to civilization.
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    In the jungle with the monkeys.

    Michele Gawenka 

       Jane Goodall has always been my hero, and working with primates an aspiration.  Africa wasn't in the cards the summer I turned 16, when my parents offered to send me to volunteer,  and there was only one class (in physical anthro-pology) when I wanted to study primatology in college.  
         Decades later my husband and I retired in Costa Rica, and this is our journey with spider (and howler) monkeys. 

    Archives

    April 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    RSS Feed