Peru Trip: Animals

I was surprised at how few animals we saw in Peru. Don't get me wrong, you'll see lots of animals here...but most of these pictures are from a handful of days. I'm not really sure what I expected; I guess probably more animals all around, every day. But then, I didn't really do any research before going on the trip, so there's a lesson learned!

Anyway, here are the animals that would hold still for us to take their picture! Lots of monkeys, and a really far off shot of a three toed sloth! Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, you've probably never seen a Three Toed Tree Sloth...neither had we until we went to Peru. And to be honest, I never did get a good look at any of them, though we saw a couple. They hang out WAY up in the trees, so arent' very easy to see. The shots I got of them aren't all that great, but they give an idea of what it looks like anyway.

You'll see more of the reptilian order later on, but I had to throw this guy in here just because. He was way up in a tree, that I happened to be walking by on the canopy walkway. He was just lying there in the sun, but as soon as I got near, he ran to the other side. Not friendly at all...which is probably okay! I don't know what his full name is, I think Ricardo said something like a hooded ring neck lizzard, or something like that.

Now this next guy was friendly. His name is Charlie and he's a Capybara, a distant cousin to the Guinnea Pig! He lives at the Explorama lodge and loves to have his chin rubbed. We all got turns scratching him and he actually purrs, in an odd sort of way. His hair is very coarse, so we didn't pet him for too long. Luckily, there were lots of us, so even with only 5 minutes per person, he was loving life!







He was having a stimulating conversation with Ralph, I'm sure!

Look at those teath! Good thing Charlie is friendly!

Now this little guy was on Monkey Island, with all the monkeys, but he's really a cousing of the Raccoon, according to Ricardo. He's called a Kinkajou, but goes by the common name Honey Bear, probably because of his coloring. He's nocturnal, but he woke up long enough for us to hold him. He's very friendly and soft, and had fun playing with us and climbing our backs and shoulders! We could easily have brought him home for a pet!

MONKEYS!

Alright, now to the all (or at least, many) of the monkeys on Monkey Island, where we saw lots and lots of monkeys. The island is very aptly named! We got there by boat, and spent a couple hours walking around, playing with the monkeys. All sorts of kinds there, and we had bunches of bananas, which really helped with the picture taking! They were pretty tame anyway, so you can imagine Donna and I had a good time!

These next guys are Marmosets and Tamarins. Very pretty little guys, and the one, a Tamarin, as you'll see, enjoyed his banana and went looking for more!

This is Amerigo, who is a Woolly Monkey.

These next ones are Brown Capuchin monkeys. Very friendly and smart....and some attitude!

This guy here posed for me after a while, though he never did take any banana.

Okay, well, that's all the animal shots I have for now. I don't think I had many better ones on wet film, if any, so this is about it. Hope you liked them!

~Derek