Viewing page 38 of 92

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[circled]] 18 [[/circled]]

[[underlined]] Ateles [[/underlined]] ssp I Jan 24, 1959  Barro Colorado

[[image -  black and red wavy vertical lines down left margin]]

Several days ago I got 4 Spider Monkeys from the Gorgas Institute. One red [[male symbol]] fairly small (like a half grown Black), but possibly adult or sub-adult (testes hanging) One Black [[male symbol]]. Quite large but almost certainly not fully adult (testes not hanging very much). Two Black [[female symbol]]'s. One, "Large Black Female" is just slightly small than the Black [[male symbol]]. The other, "Small Black Female" is considerably smaller - perhaps 1/2 grown?  
None of the animals is particularly tame, but they aren't particularly shy either.  The Red [[male symbol]] is perhaps the tamest. 
I think that the two forms may show a tendency to segregate themselves. At least for the first couple of days, I frequently saw the 3 Blacks sleeping or resting together while the Red [[male symbol]] rested some distance apart.  (Of course, I do not know the previous history of these animals at the Gorgas.) Their behavior, in general, is slightly different from that of the young Blacks I had before. And the behavior of the Red [[male symbol]] is certainly rather different from that of the Blacks - possibly just because he is tamer. 
[[/end wavy lines]]

[[image - vertical black hash mark, black line, red line, red hash mark in left margin to bottom of page]]
The most common of the the more elaborate calls of all the animals is what I shall term "Muffled Barking" (MFB). Apparently uttered in almost exactly the same form by all the animals.  A very rapid series of short rather hoarse and rusty-sounding B-like notes. Apparently of extremely variable length including very different numbers of notes. When apparently complete, it is usually quite long - but it is definitely organized as a whole into a discrete call - never continued indefinitely for minutes on end. 

Transcription Notes:
MFB = Muffled Barking! Needed this for several pages at the beginning of the document.