Rainforest Mammals

The below image is a New World monkey called a Squirrel Monkey. Unlike the other New World monkeys, their tail is not used for climbing, but as a kind of "balancing pole" and also as a tool. Their movements in the branches can be very rapid as we can attest to! They are really acrobatic and can leap very far and catch on to what looks like the most delicate of branches. They live together in multi-male/multi-female groups with up to 500 members. These large groups occasionally break into smaller troops.We saw a troop that could have been over 40. They eat primarily fruits and insects. Occasionally they eat seeds, leaves, flowers, buds, nuts, eggs and small vertebrates.

We saw several species of bats but mostly at night when they are virtually impossible to photograph despite some of the very large sizes they come in.. We were canoing along the edge of a lagoon in the day when our guide spotted these wee fellows. It took Geordie and I forever to see them. Can you see how many there are? You have to be pretty sharp eyed. These bats stay still up close but when you move away they take off. These are insectivorous bats and small and cute.  Also the EXACT colour of the branches they are on. And there are three of them.

Black Mantled Tamarin are cute little primates that love the upper canopy. The Ecuadorian Black Mantled Tamarin are often considered a subspecies called Graell's Tamarin. They eat insects, leaves and fruits. We saw groups of two to twelve on several occasions. They were hard to spot as they were quite high up but we had occasion to get some good sightings.