Belize City
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Fun with Monkeys
Jack. Jack is the howler monkey that brought huge smiles to our faces at Caracol, one of the Mayan Ruins. As a side note, we skipped out on Xunantunich and decided to do Caracol due to some influences by locals, or should I say, Chris and Jen from Table Rock Jungle Lodge. Chris and Jen recommended this ruin over the others and that is a separate post in itself. We will get to it, I promise! But I will tell you, it was AMAZING!!!
I told Courtney before we went, I want to see a monkey in the wild. I knew there was a good chance of that going to Belize. I have dreamed about monkeys since I was a little girl. So much in fact, that I painted one on my childhood bedroom wall. And tigers too! They are still on my list to see in real life (not just in a zoo, I want wild!!!)
Anyhow, we happened upon Thursday to Caracol to run into some baboons with no plans to see wild monkeys. We headed to Caracol, and as we approached the Mayan ruins after parking our car, we heard rambunctious noises coming from the jungle. Noises that sounded like a predator in battle with it’s prey. I didn’t know what to think of it untill the soldiers who assited us (again, another post in itself) told us that the sounds were coming from baboons (or howler monkeys) nearby. “Monkeys!?” I was so excited. “Will I get a chance to see these monkeys?!” “Yes, we can take you there after the next ruin.” After exploring a few ruins and patiently waiting for Courtney to climb one of the ruins in the second common ground, we finally started to approach the sounds we heard coming from the jungle. My heart was racing. I looked up into the trees from where the sounds were echoing and saw branches moving ever so slightly. On those branches, I saw itty bitty monkeys. THOSE LITTLE ANIMALS WERE MAKING ALL THAT RACKET? Are you serious? I couldn’t believe my ears!! They were little black monkeys hanging around the trees and trying to climb closer to us in curiosity of their new found friends. The sounds died down as they swung the branches above and worked closer to us to explore us. We admired and ooed and awed and tried to coax them closer to us, but they would only go so far. Courtney took several photos, trying to zoom in as much as possible.
The gallery below features our photos:
I’m sure you were not aware, but this activity with monkeys is not only very detrimental to the monkey but illegal. It is not legal to keep or even touch a howler monkey without a license from Forest Department. Conservationists in Belize have been concerned about this for a very long time. Sadly, this monkey’s future is not likely to be a good one. While it is cute and fun and not biting too many people, it will prove an entertaining aside for tourists – once it reaches sexual maturity it will either have to be euthanased or condemned to a life of solitary confinement. Adult howler monkeys are very aggressive and particularly so if they have been habituated to humans in this manner. Without careful work to rehabilitate this poor monkey early on, it will never be able to lead a life in the wild. Very sad indeed. I’m so sorry that you were encouraged to participate in this illegal activity which reflects so poorly on Belize’s attempts to be seen as a responsible tourism destination.
There are many things wrong with this….
A brief explanation. All captive monkeys in Belize are illegally kept. There are NO exceptions. Their mothers are shot and the babies prised from their dying arms. Often the monkey troupe will try to defend the mother and baby, so often kidnapping a baby leads to the killing of many monkeys. Baby monkeys hardly ever fall out of a tree and if it ever does happen the mother will ALWAYS retrieve the baby. What you were told was just plain rubbish.
Their numbers are dwindling fast and one of the prime reasons is that tourists like to have their picture taken with them, and this encourages more and more to be taken in this way.
The Howler Monkey (not a baboon) that you are seen with will slowly get increasingly aggressive as he becomes sexually mature, and when tourists can no longer have their picture taken with them, then they are either killed or abandoned. Please be very clear that this monkey will NEVER rejoin his ‘family’ as if he attempted to do so he would be killed by the monkey troupe as an outsider.
Please, anyone who reads this. NEVER have your picture taken with captive wildlife. It only encourages more death and destruction. The sad tales of orphans are hardly ever true.
[...] updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet BoxLiz and I recently posted a detailed story about our encounter howler monkeys at Caracol. It contained lots of details of a particularly unique visit ith with Jack, a juvenile howler [...]
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