Day Eight (June 30)

     Once the forks were pulled, Willy and Arie switched habitats. For the first few minutes, it seemed as though Arie was Avoiding Willy. However, the boys then had another grooming standoff and Willy initiated grooming. I still have not seen Arie initiate grooming. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever seen Arie grooming Willy! Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll see Arie initiate grooming. It would be a great sign that the boys are getting along mutually well. Kari and I discussed the possibility that Willy may be trying to mount Arie to establish dominance. If this is the case, hopefully after some time Willy will stop pursuing Arie around the habitats. Arie's reactions have usually been moving to another portion of the habitat, or even hanging upside down on the ropes inside the habitat. Today's socialization lasted five hours, which is what we'll shoot for tomorrow. The socialization was ended by Vicky, an apprentice here at Jungle Friends, because she heard Arie make a noise that is used to threaten, show stress, and is all around bad. We believe that Arie made this noise because there was a storm rolling in. Sure enough, not long after we replaced the forks, rain began to pour down. The two Munchkins were given access to their indoor habitats and we looked forward to tomorrow.

Did Arie have food stuck between his teeth or what?