Monkey: "Here's looking at you, kid"

This white-faced Capuchin monkey was staring right at me on a boat excursion on the Tempisque River in Palo Verde National Park, about an hour east of Tamarindo. The white-faced Capuchin monkeys are very active, and not shy. The tour boat operators will bring along some fresh fruit, and the monkeys will hop right on board the boat and take the food right out of the hand of the tourists on the boat.

They have very human-like, expressive faces. I have usually seen them in groups of about 10 together, often with a mother carrying a baby on her back. They at times will hang from a low branch over the river and scoop up water with their tail and sip their tail for a drink. Why would they use their tail rather than a hand or drink with their mouth? If there is a crocodile lurking below, they would rather lose the end of their tail than a hand or head.

Yes, there are crocodiles in the river. I will show photos of them in future posts.