Best wishes to Arie and Willy on their new life together at Jungle Friends!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Day Eleven (July 3rd)
Success! Around 6:10 A.M. I checked on Arie and Willy. They were in the same spots where they settled last night and there were no signs of a fight. When they woke up and became more active. There were nothing more than friendly interactions! So far today, they have remained unsupervised. I've checked in a few times throughout the day and the boys still seem fine with the permanent socialization.
Day Ten (July 2nd)
The first thing the Munchkins did today was switch and scent mark habitats. Once again, the boys groomed each other, ate from the same food bowl, and enjoyed each other's company. There was an instance where Willy chattered at Arie while he was eating, but nothing developed from the chatter. Around 7:30 P.M. they settled down. Willy rested in the cube bedding in one habitat, while Arie rested in the other habitat's indoor area. We planned to check on them early tomorrow morning to determine whether or not they had moved overnight or if there seemed to have been a fight. However, everything I witnessed this week pointed towards a successful socialization.
The boys sharing their food!
Day Nine (July 1st)
Today's socialization lasted a little over four hours.Like before, we saw that the boys were sharing a food bowl. However, we saw some new and very positive things today! Arie initiated grooming with Willy! I don't believe I had even seen Arie groom Willy at all before today. Also, the two munchkins shared one of the cube shaped bedding areas we have in their habitats. These are great signs that Arie and Willy have a mutually positive relationship with one another. We chose to separate the boys on a good note today. However, we plan on wrapping up the socialization tomorrow by removing the forks once and for all! Mimi and I will be watching the boys all day tomorrow and, if there are no problems, into the night.
Willy and Arie's favorite spot: the "cave" area that we have in each outdoor habitat.
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?
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Day Seven (June 29th)
Today we socialized Willy and Arie for about an hour and a half. Although we have seen Willy try to mount Arie multiple times over the past week, there were never any actions beyond that. However, when the forks were pulled today, Willy immediately mounted Arie and began to hump him. Yes, these are two males, from two different species groups. Nonetheless, if they're happy, we're happy (until we can find them some females to be paired with). The goal of this socialization was to observe Willy and Arie and decide whether or not placing them in the same habitat would be safe. Throughout the week, no fights were witnessed, so the socialization periods will continue until we have seen them through an entire day together. We have planned on allowing the socialization to last the majority of tomorrow. If no problems occur then, we will plan for an entire day of socialization.
Arie and Willy have enjoyed each other's company so far this week.
Day Six (June 28th)
Today I was back for the socialization process! After we took away the forks, Willy immediately began to follow Arie around the habitat. However, not much later, the boys swapped habitats and stayed apart for the next half of the hour. We were glad to see that the Munchkins ended the socialization period on a good note with a grooming session. Later this week, we are planning on allowing the boys to have access to both habitats for the majority of the day. This will allow us to see how they act with each other after an extended period of time and give us a better look at whether or not they will be able to live with each other permanently.
Another standoff.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Day Five (June 27th)
Mimi observed today's socialization and reported that Willy made fewer attempts to mount Arie. They also groomed each other quite a bit during their hour together. Also, while Willy has always been the one to follow Arie around, today Mimi saw Arie following Willy around the habitat. We hope that these positive signs were suggesting that Willy and Arie would be able to live with each other in peace.
They boys liked to race through the "runways" between the habitats.
Day Four (June 26th)
Today we allowed Willy and Arie to have access to each other for an hour. The boys spent most of that time in the other's habitat. The interaction that they did have was positive! Willy groomed Arie for quite a long time. However, despite multiple requests by Willy, Arie never groomed in return. We considered the short socialization to be a success (as there were no fights) and looked forward to the next day.
Willy's not-so-gentle way of initiating grooming.
Mimi, Kari, and I have been recording the socialization for
documentation and videos to be made in the near future!
Day Three (June 25th)
Once again Willy and Arie had a successful day of socializing. While most of their interactions were the "grooming standoffs" we've seen every day so far, they boys spent most of the hour near one another. However, as seen in day one and two, Willy tried to mount Arie multiple times. Arie has always responded by moving to a different area of the habitat to evade Willy. As the boys have seemed to enjoy each other's company, the only major concerns we noted were that Arie could possibly react violently to Willy's actions, and that Arie needs to remain safe and happy.
Once again, Arie and Willy were ready for the socialization to begin!
They boys spent most of their time exploring their habitat
and observing the rest of the sanctuary together.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Day Two (June 24th)
Today we socialized Willy and Arie for about two hours! Soon after the fork was pulled, there was a massive improvement from day one, in that the boys show interest in one another and interacted more. One of the first things they did was return to their original habitat and explore what was different (scent markings from the other monkey). During the socialization we saw great things such as the two monkeys eating from the same diet bowl, laying near each other, and even grooming one another! However, we also noticed that at multiple times during the socialization, Willy attempted to mount Arie. This may be the reason for the initial fight, and we plan to closely monitor the safety and happiness of both monkeys. While we know the monkeys would be much happier is male-female pairs, there are no females available at Jungle Friends to be matched with the new tamarin and marmoset. As these two males lived together before their arrival at Jungle Friends, we are attempting this socialization whit the hopes that both monkeys will be safe, happy, and healthy. After about two hours, Willy and Arie were in different habitats, and Kari and I took the opportunity to end the second socialization day on a good note. We replaced the forks and were thankful for another successful day in the socialization process.
Overall, the two Munchkins had a great day two of their socialization!
Day One (June 23rd)
When we removed the fork from the runway between Willy and Arie, the first thing they did was trade habitats. Throughout the next hour, the two males ignored each other and interacted very little. While in each other's habitat, the boys explored and did scent marking. Kari and I decided to put the fork back in the runway when Willy started to "self grasp," which can be a sign of stress in monkeys who were taken from their parents at a young age. We considered day one's socialization to be a success, as no fights occurred, and looked forward to day two!
However, Willy spent most of the time exploring.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Resocialization Between Willy and Arie
As some of you may know from the Jungle Friends facebook page or the Jungle Friends website, Munchkin Land has two new residents. Arie, a Black Tufted-Ear Marmoset, and Willy, a Golden Handed Tamarin, arrived at Jungle Friends on May 24th. You may also know that the two males were housed together at their previous home, and reportedly got along with one another. However, something you may not know is that while things seemed to be going well their first day together a small fight occurred. For the safety of the new boys, they were separated into the two different habitats seen here.
The black tufted-ear marmoset species originally lived in Brazil, while the golden-handed tamarin species originated north of the Amazon River (in Brazil, Guyana, French Guiana, and Venezuela). So how do these species end up in North America when they don't even belong in this hemisphere? Humans of course! Sadly, Willy and Arie were stolen from their parents and sold as pets. Happily, they have found a home here at Jungle Friends, where they are free to act like monkeys and are safe from humans who may harm them. Although these two new world primates could probably survive on their own in this climate, they are far too hymanized, and would likely find themselves in deep trouble when they approached the next human they saw (not to mention the danger the human could be in). At Jungle Friends, we give the "Munchkins" a 12'x12'x12' outdoor habitat and access to an indoor shelter. Here, they are free to jump, climb, eat bugs (along with the diets we prepare for them), and live happily as wild monkeys should!
In the wild, these species do not live on their own, denied access to other monkeys, or isolated from other species. This is why Kari, the founder of Jungle Friends, and I are in the process of resocializing Willy and Arie. They may be two different species, and both males, but at Jungle Friends, we are totally against breaking bonds! Willy and Arie have already experience the bonds to their parents being broken. They then experience being separated from their owners. We do not want to cause a third broken bond by keeping these two separated.
Broken bonds can cause severe side effects. A common effect experienced by these monkeys is called reactive attachment disorder. When these monkeys are young, they need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal development of social and emotional characteristics. Naturally, the primary caregiver is the father, while all family members act as some sort of caregiver. However, when these monkeys become pets, the initial bond between parent and offspring is broken, and a new bond is formed between the pet and owner. Reactive attachment disorder can be caused by abrupt separation from their primary caregiver, from a frequent change of caregivers, and by lack of a caregiver's response to the young monkey's efforts of communication.
Sometimes after multiple bonds are broken, an animal will never trust again, as with the marmoset MoMo. He was taken from his parents, from his owner, and the female he was initially paired with at Jungle Friends died. He now lives alone in his habitat because he has fought with the other other moneys he has been socialized with.
Our goal the first few days of socializing is no fights. To be safe, we are observing Willy and Arie constantly while they are together, and are limiting their time of having full access to each other. In the days before the socialization, we allowed the two monkeys to be separated by no more than one fork (the set of sliding bars used to separate monkeys into different habitats) in their runways. We observed the boys showing interest in each other, and even saw them grooming one another through the fork!
Also, during the socialization, pictures and videos are being taken. These records will be compiled into a video that will help anyone who wants to socialize two monkeys properly, whether it be in another sanctuary, or in a pet owners backyard. We will also be creating videos of how to construct a proper habitat for a monkey and other necessities.
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