Thursday, February 5, 2009

Cute Little Thieves

When I was in college, I read that vervet monkeys have three different alarm calls to warn each other of eagles, snakes, and leopards.  Now that I know these animals well, I can say for certain that everything else in their communicative arsenal means, roughly, "You go over there and do something adorable while I sneak up behind the people and grab that bag of nuts."

This monkey might look like it's just hanging out on a post.  But I was cooking dinner when I took this picture, and oddly enough, the monkey was one post closer to me every time I turned around.


Eating leaves?  Uh-uh.  This one has an eye on my bread.  


I'm afraid my bread didn't survive its attentions. 

It wasn't a fair contest.  There were about two dozen of them and only one of me.

Melissa