ABSTRACT
The day began as the worst birthday of my life. For the last four days we had been chugging upstream from Iquitos, Peru on tributaries of the Amazon. Our boat was old and listed about 30 degrees to port. The only seats were benches on either side of the diesel engine, and at night, no matter how we strung our mosquito netting, we could not avoid being bit countless times. The water level was low and we frequently ran aground on sand bars. What was I doing here? I despaired of ever getting to see any monkeys, let alone do the research I had hoped to do. Toward the end of this hot, humid day we reached landfall at the camp and I met my research guide, Pekka Soini. Within a few minutes of landing, he took us into the forest and I saw wild monkeys for the first time in my life. A group of pygmy marmosets foraged around the edges of a small clearing made by a fallen tree, some eating exudates, the sap, and other excretions emerging from holes they had gouged in trees, and others catching insects. In less than an hour the animals began to call to one another, and they traveled single file to their night nest. My birthday turned out to be wonderful after all.
