It happened last Tuesday. I was at camp, having given up on the morning after sitting in the rain for about 7 hours and losing the monkeys I was attempting to habituate. My guide and I were just getting ready to head back out in hopes for a more productive afternoon when we received radio contact from the forest. One of the guides had discovered a baby simakobu on the ground in the same area we had been following monkeys earlier that morning. We instructed our informant not to touch the monkey, and we immediately grabbed our boots and ran to his location. As I approached, my heart sank as I could see he was a very small and weak animal who could barely muster the strength to cry. I began inspecting him for injuries or trauma, when I noticed that he had some small yellow specks in his hair. I initially mistook them for plant material, but soon realized that they were eggs of the large flies that were incessantly swarming around his tiny little head. The local people explained to me that these eggs would quickly hatch and that the monkey would be dead in a day once the maggots emerged and began feeding on his flesh. I decided to give him a fighting chance at survival and with a rubber glove, some antiseptic wipes and a small pair of scissors (all part of my first aid kit!), I began removing the eggs from his head and back (he was literally COVERED in these things). Once I had cleaned him of as many eggs as I could, I left him in the spot where we found him in hopes that his mother would return and retrieve him. That night, I had difficulty sleeping, imagining him alone in the cold wet night, without his mother and extremely vulnerable to nocturnal predators. So the next morning, when I returned to the tree where I had left him the night before, I expected to find either the body of a dead monkey or no monkey at all. I had not even considered the possibility that we might find him alive, so when I discovered him sitting quietly amongst some leaves, I didn't know what to do. I realized that I had 2 choices: leave him there to die, as it was clear that his mother was not going to retrieve him; or bring him back to camp and try to care for him. This was not a decision I took lightly, since I knew that caring for a 1-month-old monkey would be a full-time job and one that (if he survived) could last for 1 or 2 years. But I could not simply leave this pitiful creature alone to die a stressful and painful death, so I decided I had to do all I could to save him from this fate. As soon as I had him back to camp, I immediately offered him something to eat, since he surely hadn't eaten anything for at least 15 hours. He ate a little and then I spent the next 2 hours removing all the maggots that had hatched on his body and which had already opened sores in his flesh. Unfortunately, this was the very day that I was leaving Siberut to return to Bogor to renew my visa, so I didn't have much time to arrange for his care before I had to depart. But it was clear that he would have plenty of caretakers and we had already "ordered" some infant formula to be delivered later that afternoon, so I felt reasonably certain he would be cared for. I spent the next 5 days worrying about little Sammy until we received word from the station that he is alive and well, feeding regularly and adjusting to his new life--What a relief! During my time on the mainland I have acquired volumes of information and advice and have bought all the supplies we will need to care for him for several months to come. I hope to introduce him to a small group of juvenile males who live in the area immediately surrounding our camp, which should make a suitable family for him once he is ready. It will be a long and challenging process to return this little guy to the wild, but I am hoping for the best!
This is how I found the little guy: cold, wet and alone. You can see one of the horrible flies on his head.
All cleaned up and regaining some strength after a meal.
We're thrilled to see the little guy adjusting to his new life.
