And you thought roosters were bad! For the first week in Costa Rica I was convinced that our neighbors were harboring some sort of hell pig, which was on the verge of death. From the noises that that thing was making I pictured it to be pushing at least 300 pounds. Then to my shock and amazement I discovered the noise was coming from howler monkeys that frequently swing by to forage in the trees surrounding our house. The howler monkey is one of the loudest animals in the world, and their calls can be heard from up to three miles away. The males are the only ones capable of producing the calls, and do so to warn other groups of monkeys that their territory is occupied. They also issue these verbal assaults on barking dogs and lawnmowers, and probably just for fun at 4 a.m.
I particularly like how National Geographic describes them in this you tube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REPoVfN-Ij4
I was able to get up close and personal with one outside of our house:
No comments:
Post a Comment