Where: Montezuma, Costa Rica
I was having breakfast and thinking about the day I’d soon be spending at the Montezuma beach when, all of a sudden, this cute monkey showed up and began to play.
I must admit that I enjoyed watching the show; it’s not everyday that I get to see a monkey swinging on a tree! It was not easy to get a photo, however; most I took were blurry due to his/her fast movement. Fortunately, I was able to sneak a few, including this one.
White-Headed Capuchin, Montezuma, Costa Rica. Photo: (c) L Egle, 2011. All rights reserved.
What: a White-Headed Capuchin
I believe that this is a white-headed capuchin (Cebus capucinus)–a medium-sized New World monkey. At least, that’s what a Google search and Wikipedia told me. I also read that this is a super intelligent monkey that is sometimes trained to help paraplegic individuals.
What Else: Longevity
These monkeys live long lives, up to and over 50 at times.
Photographic Details:
F stop: 5.6
Focal length: 28.8mm
Exposure time: 1/100th of a second
ISO: Not available, but I suspect it was 400 due to a certain amount of ‘noise’
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix E900 (my first digital camera, which I’ve since replaced with an Olympus X-Z 1)
Your Experience?
Have you seen or heard monkeys while traveling? If so, where were you? What did you think of them? Were you able to get a good photo? If so, what sort of settings did you use? Did you have a really fast telephoto lens?
If you’ve never seen a monkey (outside of a zoo), would you like to?
Want to See More Photos?
Like travel photography? Check out all ‘photos of the day‘ I’ve done so far, as well as other photography-oriented posts, some of which are slideshows and have music. You can also follow me over on Flickr. And if you like what you see, please share with others. Thank you and enjoy!
Love this photo!! I lived in Samara…just a few hours north of Montezuma and I was surrounded by howler monkeys! You could hear their deep bellow echo throughout the town. It was neat to see them occasionally crossing the rooftops of buildings directly on the beach!
Hi, Lindsay. Thanks–happy you like it! Wild that you lived in CR and saw/heard he howlers in town. I’ve hear them before and found it beautiful and haunting at the same time. How cool!
Fantastic shot! He looks very cheeky indeed! So jealous of your Central American wanderings…
Will – My Spanish Adventure recently posted..My Spanish Lovers: Gee Cassandra! What’s with the Spanish?
Hola, Will. Gracias…glad you like the photo. He does look a bit cheeky–LOL. Re: the wanderings….I have yet to visit Honduras. We’ll see…
He’s soooo cute!
Thanks, Andi! Or I should say that ‘he’ says thanks, right? LOL
So adorable!
Great photo of the monkey!!!! Really like your photography; please continue to include in your
posts!!
Thank you, Sue. Glad you like him/her!
I think it’s a ‘him.’
Hahah 😀 So cute 😀 …Please find out the name for me 😛
I love it! I immediately called it as a Capuchin before I read your caption. (I’m a monkey/ape nerd like that… anthropology major ftw) I saw wild monkeys for the first time very recently though, last month in fact. I was in Cambodia and they just walked right out of the jungle near me at a temple near Angkor Wat!
Kaylin recently posted..My south-east Asia adventure (part 4: one last day in Bangkok and the long journey back to freezing Korea
Hi, Kaylin. Anthropology major? Cool!! You may laugh, but I had to google “Costa Rican monkeys” to figure out what he/she was! Cambodia sounds so cool. The more I hear, the more I want to go. Must be fun to see them as you did!
Actually, this is the type of monkey that was in Pirates of the Caribbean so I knew a long time ago what kind it was, even before my schooling haha (even bigger Johnny Depp movie nerd than monkey nerd ;D). I actually had to look up what kind I saw in SE Asia as I’m not as familiar with those, and I believe it was a Macaque.
The ones I saw looked quite like this fellow here: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/dikti/dikti1005/dikti100500009/6976331-wild-macaque-in-siem-reap-cambodia.jpg Cute, right??
I do cringe a little when I see people with monkeys on their shoulders or feeding them from very close, though. Monkeys are wild animals and should be treated as such, keeping a safe distance unless a trained handler is there with you. Monkeys are very cute, as we all know, but they can be dangerous. Not just physically harmful (they could bite off a finger!) but they can also carry diseases which are infectious to humans. Just a reminder to everyone.
Kaylin recently posted..My south-east Asia adventure (part 4: one last day in Bangkok and the long journey back to freezing Korea
Ooh…a Johnny Depp movie nerd? I can understand that. Definitely!
Thanks for sharing that photo–SO cute!
Interesting info re: monkeys. I had no idea. Silly question (perhaps), but do some people have them as pets and is that OK–or is it never really OK? I knew someone many years ago who had one. Seemed like she had many issues with him/her, too, because it was nocturnal and kept getting into trouble. Of course, it was probably just really being itself. I wonder if she got the pet illegally. Hmmm.
Well I don’t really think its a good idea to have a monkey as a pet, but it’s certainly legal in many places including some US states. Ohio for example has one of the least strict exotic pet laws in the entire country. Some responsible people can handle the responsibility I’m sure, but considering even domestic animals like dogs can be dangerous in the right circumstances and they are much more used to humans and being around them… I just don’t think a wild animal as a pet is a good idea. There are many wild animals that are highly trained for professional films and such, but that takes years of intense training and most normal people don’t have the ability to do that. I believe wild animals are best left where they belong–in the wild.
Kaylin recently posted..6 months in Korea… looking back
Thanks for sharing that, Kaylin. It sounds like it might not be a good idea to have certain animals as pets–and for the reasons you gave.