MoBo

In time calling Monkey Boy, well, Monkey Boy became a bit wordy and we shortened it to MoBo. He continued to thrive and grow little by little. He thought himself to be much bigger and stronger than he really was and enjoyed "wrestling" with Mike. Mike was extremely gentle with the little fellow, but indulged MoBo's want of horseplay. Once, Mike was holding Mobo by his tail, he became agitated and retreated to my arm and lay there wimpering and sucking his thumb. I was petting him and comforting him and telling Mike he was a little

too rough, when out of the blue MoBo leaped off my arm and onto Mike with Hulk Hogan ferocity. He was ready for another round!

Monkey School 101

In an effort to acclimate the baby monkey to his natural state, he had to go to monkey school. Unfortunately, with me as the teacher, he was a bit disadvantaged, but at that point I'm all he had. The first day of school did not go well as we attempted the class: Climbing Trees 101. Monkey Boy kept scampering down the tree and clinging to my ankles. The is not good for a couple of reasons. First, Squirrel Monkeys are arboreal animals which means they live in trees. Their safety and livelihood depends on them moving adeptly through tree tops, Second, it was hard for me to walk with a monkey clinging to my feet. Monkey Boy made an F in tree climbing class.
The next day was Observing other Monkeys day. Several male squirrel monkeys came down to Monkey Boy's cage and showed an interest in him. I took him out of the cage and was walking around with him to let the other monkeys know he was in no danger and also to let Monkey Boy observe who were surely his kinfolk , maybe even his brother or uncle! He wasn't helping things by sitting on my shoulder and trying to twist my head around so he could squeeze my lips... "Don't do that", I told him, "your brethren are going to think you a wimp."
The other monkeys just continued to look puzzled. We got an email from an authority on primates who advised if the other squirrel monkeys showed an interest in the baby, we should let them take him. Monkey Boy doesn't seem too interested in going with them.

So his education continued...

Baby Love

Our little baby was quite affectionate and he loved attention. Of course, anything so small and adorable was easy to play with.

First Bath

We gave Monkey Boy a bath. Sounds strange I guess, but the monkeys live in the rain forest and during the rainy season, they constantly get wet. We were amazed that a few minutes after his bath, his coat was completely dry. Evolution has provided them with remarkable water repelling fur. He took his first bath in stride.

Tempest In A Teapot

Monkey Boy was so cute we couldn't resist all the photo opportunities that presented themselves. To be so small, he was quite tenacious and sometimes he wasn't fully cooperative when we were taking his picture. To get an idea of how small he was, we wanted to take a picture of him in a coffee cup. He wasn't particularly enamored with the idea.

Got Milk?

What's for lunch?

Our little monkey thrived on diluted dry milk, mashed bananas and a gruel I made from oatflakes, fruit and milk. I was hesitant about the oatflakes because it wasn't something natural he would ordinarily get from the wild. Everything I read on the internet regarding food for monkeys was for long term pets. Did you know you can get Monkey Chow by Purina? Anyway, he relished the gruel and he loved his little visine bottle. My main adjective

was to keep him alive.

The Monkey Who Thought He Was Boy

Mike built the little monkey who we were now calling Monkey Boy, Chico, Wilbur and Willie Wonka, a large cage. We outfitted it with tree limbs and a large stuffed bear we named Big Mama. Monkey Boy liked to sleep on her head with his long tail wrapped around his face like a makeshift sleeping mask. Sometimes he would lie on Big Mama and suck his thumb and I would cry because he looked so vulnerable. It was simply amazing how closely he resembled a human baby. Slowly he grew and got more and more nimble in his tiny forest in the cage. He actually preferred clinging to Mike and me as he would his mother in the wild. We were advised not to handle him as this would cause him to get too attached to us. However, I found this advice heartless. He was too tiny to competely ignore and I felt the nurturing would be more beneficial than no contact at all.