Monkeys With Attitude


Seeing the scads of monkeys that call St. Kitts home was at the top of my to do list when I arrived on the island. You can imagine my excitement when I not only spotted the fast-moving creatures but actually interacted with one. That's Junie on my shoulder. I'd describe him as cute, adorable, sweet. But according to our trusty and lovely guide Lavern, the monkeys on St. Kitts are best described as having attitudes.


Look at the evidence. That's a guava (Lavern's favorite fruit) on the ground. Notice the large bite that has been taken out of it.


Apparently, monkeys routinely roam through guava trees, sampling just one bite of a fruit and throwing the rest to the ground. Lavern is convinced that they don't eat all the fruit because they don't want it. They take just one nibble to spite humans so that they can't have any of the juicy guavas. I think that qualifies as having an attitude.


This is Junie's owner Glen Keith, who's nine-year-old. Junie didn't appear to have an attitude at all but then again, I didn't see him near a guava tree. Monkeys like Junie are part of the Vervet species that have a greenish hue to their fur. They were brought from West Africa by colonials as pets during the 18th century and now they outnumber humans on St. Kitts. I saw glimpses of them every day on the island, scampering across roads and rustling in the trees. They are apparently too smart to come out during the heat of the day, they roam during cool early morning and evening hours.  According to this BBC video, they also love to steal fruity alcholic drinks. I never witnessed this but I did see them on the beach while I was clutching exactly that sort of beverage.

Comments

Unknown said…
Oh my goodness tipsy....no, make that drunk monkeys. so cute!
eden said…
Wow, what a cutie! I definitely need them this time because I have lots and lots of ripe guavas at the backyard...hehehe..

Thank you for sharing beautiful photos and information about these interesting creatures.
Even "Paradise" had its little challenges, it seems!
Fly Girl said…
Roscelle, yes, they are cute, even drunk!

Eden, lots of ripe guavas? Forget the monkeys, I need to visit!

Heather, yes, even paradise has challenges but I think the monkeys are so much more enthrallingthan all the other problems.
Cate said…
Anything cute just gets cuter when drunk. I wonder why the monkeys like the first bite of the guava? Could it be that initial sensation of juices etc or maybe the first bite contains a high alcohol content...
Fly Girl said…
Cate, you rarely see wild animals leaving food like that. They don't even leave the drinks unfinished! It may be a learned behavior, where like Lavern isists, they are trying to get back at humans!
Mary R said…
You had me at scads. You know my love of little monkey thingy, right?

Very cool, fly girl!
Fly Girl said…
Mary, I do, I do! Monkeys are indeed very cool and I enjoy watching them all, attitude or not.
Cute!!!! I have no other words... :D
Fly Girl said…
Rachel, they are cute but they definitely have attitude!
AngelaCorrias said…
Little monkeys are so adorable! My father used to have one when he worked in Borneo and we have a picture where the tiny monkey is drinking with a straw from a glass that was actually bigger than him :)

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