There are four types of monkeys in Costa Rica: The howler, the capuchin, spider, and squirrel. Three of the four of these live on my coast. Of the three, we see the howler monkey and the capuchin monkeys most often. Let's start with the howler. The howler monkey is fairly common to see around these parts. They travel in troops of about 8 to 15. The howler got its name from its really distinct and very loud bellow the males make. The sound can travel up to about 3 miles in the jungle, and I have a troupe of them that live to the front of my property, one property over. It is as distinct as it is shocking the first time you hear it. When I first moved here, it reminded me of a dinosaur. Fun fact, I saw something that said that when they needed dinosaur sounds for one of the Jurassic Park movies, they used howler monkey bellows. I can totally believe that. The first couple times I heard them here on the property ,my daughter and I kind of freaked out. One night, she and I were home alone and she was up in her room, heard them very close and came tripping down the stairs as fast as she could, into the kitchen and slammed into me tight going, "mom, what is that?" Depending on the type, they usually are very dark brown almost black in color, but can be light brown on their bellies and arms.
The capuchin is the one we see most often after the howler. The variety here is almost grayish black with a white face. They are exactly like the monkeys in the movie Outbreak. They run in much smaller groups, I would say no more than 10. They have much more outlandish behavior. These are the monkeys that will come close and are curious. We have at least one, maybe two small troops that live in very close proximity in the back. Behind my house is about 45 minutes in any direction of primary (old growth) forest. Because of this, we see a lot more wildlife than the others on the compound. These are the monkeys that wrestle with each other, steal cacao pods and other fruits right out of each other's arms and generally dogpile like siblings in the living room. I have several banana trees in my yard, two or three are extremely close to my kitchen windows. And I have seen them come many times and pilfer my fruit, staring at my cats as they do so.
The spider monkey is a little less common. They really don't like people so they're difficult to spot. Because of the location of the compound and proximity to the forest behind me, I do see them more often. They're almost never seen close to town, One of the reasons we get so lucky is that we have a tree that bears seed pods that they love. I don't know what the name of the tree is, but I can tell you that the pod is about a foot long, has a musky sweet smell almost like syrup and they absolutely go bananas for it. When the spider monkeys come in to eat, they break the pods open on the tree trunks. Oftentimes, half of the seed pod will fall, so we're alerted to them by how much noise they make as they eat. They definitely do not like people. At times, will actively break big branches and drop them on you. They're coloring is beautiful, they are lighter reddish brown with black arms and legs.
Finally, there is the squirrel monkey. It is the most elusive of the four in Costa Rica, really only existing in pockets here and there. One of the biggest populations is in Corcavado National Park, a very rugged and protected small peninsula on the opposite coast. They are much lighter in color with a white and gray face that looks very similar to a squirrel around the eyes. They have a gray upper body and yellowy orange limbs. You can appreciate the howlers for what they bring to the table, the capuchins for how much of a class clown they are, and how elusive and cute the spider monkey is, but squirrel monkeys are in a class all to themselves. These monkeys are just the cutest. Smaller than their counterparts, they live in groups much larger than their cousins. Their groups can be up to a few hundred strong, although to troupe we saw in Corcovado had about 50 members.
I will never get tired of listening to and seeing monkeys. It will never get old. Whenever we see any, we pull over and watch for a few minutes. Anytime we hear big movement in the trees, it's a game to see who can spot it first. They're especially active first in the morning and at dusk, with most settling in the midday for a siesta. I feel uniquely privileged to be able to hear and see them regularly. Oftentimes, we will see two or three species in a single day and that's a really cool thing to be able to say.
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