Apr 28, 2008

Abu, The Capuchin Monkey

We recently returned from a 10 day trip to Nicaragua. It wasn't my first time, although I haven't been there in a few years. On the road from the airport to Esteli, there are usually people selling birds, iguanas and other creatures but on this particular day as we were driving, we happened to spot a man selling a small capuchin monkey. Some impulsive moments later and we were en route with this little guy in tow. We thought of many names...some very humorous, but ended up with "Abu" like the monkey in Aladdin. How original!
At first we did not have a cage for him, so to my displeasure, he stayed in our room for the first few nights. Then Anthony, his brothers and Lebeau built a fine monkey cage fully equipped with branches, a hanging toy and a little house/box where he can sleep at night.
He grew on me rather quickly. He made this little barking noise whenever the dogs would come near, sounded like "arf". I found it adorable. He's very sweet and loves to be held. When we got back we made it a point to go to an exotic pet shop that sold monkeys. We asked if they had a Capuchin monkey. The lady who owned the shop said "You don't want a Capuchin! They may look cute in movies but they are a lot of work and can rip your nose off!" Uh-oh we said. Abu is really sweet and you can tell he was raised constantly held by humans. I'm going to do a bit more research about them but I have a feeling Abu will be alright. He stayed behind in Nicaragua with Anthony's family. Every now and then we will call to check up on him and hopefully we'll see him again soon. :)


At the supermarket...Lebeau got lots of stares, lol.
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3 comments:

Catherine said...

I would have gotten Herms to put a vest on and sing "Riff raff, street rat, I don't buy that!" ;)

Anonymous said...

That's so cool. Are your in-laws ok w/having a pet monkey? Do capuchins get any bigger or is that Abu's full size?

Marie said...

They are cool with it. His mama doesn't want to touch him though. Ha ha. She's convinced monkees carry disease.

He will get bigger...maybe the size of a small house cat. We haven't told them that yet. :)

He's adorable, I hope he doesn't get too big.