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January 20 2007 - Meroela
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I'm sitting under a tree outside my tent, and inside my top is a tiny monkey: she's four weeks old, but she was premature by three weeks and requires far more attention than our other orphans. I've been looking after her 24/7 for the past week and it's proving to be a unique experience. She was born in one of our enclosures, the first baby of an ageing mother. Her mother was unable to produce milk sufficient for her needs, so to be three weeks premature, and born to an ageing mother, she didn't exactly have the best start in life. She was then kidnapped by a bandit monkey and deposited in the enclosure of another monkey - also old - who had also just given birth and didn't have enough milk for two, so she had been without food for two days when Arthur brought her in. The name of the enclosure she was found in is called 'Meroela' (pronounced Merula) and that is the name she was given. She spent some time with Arthur, then went to a human 'mother' for three weeks before coming to me. And hopefully after me, she'll join the others in 'baby care'. Living with this tiny, fragile, frightened, bewildered little creature is a humbling experience. It's also very funny - the day she hopped onto the table, pulled a cigarette out of a packet and put it in her mouth being a prime example! Falling asleep at night with this tiny creature tucked under my chin wrapped in her warm blankie (blanket), which she refuses to be parted from, is one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. Last night there was another major storm, and as we settled down for the night, to the comforting sound of rain on canvas, the thought suddenly hit me; I'M IN BED WITH A BABY MONKEY!!!!!!!! Not only am I in bed with a baby monkey, it also feels the most natural thing in the world. The awareness that this is something that is experienced by only a tiny proportion of people on the planet suddenly impacted on my consciousness in a more profound way than it ever had before. But how did I arrive at this amazing point in my life after such a long journey and feel so completely at home? At this moment in time, I am mother to a baby Vervet monkey! How cool is that? I'm responsible for all this little baby's needs. My job is to give her all the security possible and then wean her off human contact so that she associates other monkeys as her family and not human beings. Meroela has just maneuvered her way out of my top, jumped onto my lap top and peed all over the keyboard. She has now jumped onto my left shoulder and is pooing to great effect down my left arm. I've mopped the pee up and can only trust that no lasting damage has been done to my machine. She's now back in my top gazing at everything around her with a curiosity that fascinates me. Day by day she is changing and growing, establishing and expressing her own character and personality, testing and exploring her world. The intelligence of these little guys is awesome and humbling. They know so many things that we are not even aware of. They live in harmony with their surroundings and are a part of Nature in a way that we are not. Flora and Fauna are the true custodians of our Planet, without them we are lost and we continue to destroy species at our peril. I moved to this location several days ago, and for my money am now in the best spot on the property. It was previously occupied by a long term volunteer who left the Sanctuary this week, and my tent was moved up here soon after she had vacated the position. I'm higher up than I was before and deeper into the bush. It's completed isolated and if you didn't know I was here, it wouldn't occur to you that I was, so to speak. I'm sitting under an arch of green leaves and feathered, silver fern: the foliage on the tree is so thick that it has caused the branches to bend and mingle its leaves with the fronds of the fern opposite it. I feel as though I'm sitting in an enchanted glade, a fairy forest; I imagine myself to be Titania and expect to see Puck and Oberon on the night of the full moon, or on a moonless night when the sky is thick with stars and the elves come out to play and feast on nectar from secret herbs. Angel, my first baby died; she was too fragile to survive when she first arrived, so, fingers crossed, Meroela will have not only have quality of life, but also quantity, and will grow into a big strong monkey and live a happy, laid back life in the forest the Sanctuary intends to buy sometime in the near future, where all our monkeys will live when they are released back into the wild. But should her time here prove to be brief, I hope I will not mourn her passing, but feel joy that while her time here was brief, she felt happy, secure and above all... loved. P.S. She's just pooed all down the front of my top... xxxxxxx
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