Monthly theme: "Lines" with howler monkeys

Today's Daily Photo Monthly Theme is "Lines." I am showing a telephone line with a distinctly Costa Rican touch -- a howler monkey with a baby on her back walking across the telephone line.

Howler monkeys can be seen, and much more commonly heard, in the trees in and around Tamarindo. The mother and baby above were part of a family group just a few miles outside of town. I stopped the car and my two sons and I watched their behavior for about 20 minutes.

The monkey family members took their turn walking the full length of a span between two telephone poles. They then climbed from the telephone line into a tree, ate and lounged around for a while, then moved from branch to branch to reach a tree on the other side of the road. After tiring of the tree on the other side of the road, they leaped through the air to another tree, then disappeared into the forest. My two sons were with me at the time, and my younger son, Stuart, took a video of the monkeys flying through the air.

When we walk along the beach from our condo in Playa Langosta, we often see and hear howler monkeys in the trees near the ocean. It is possible to walk for miles along an unspoiled beach, with more monkeys than people.

I previously showed a close-up photo of a howler monkey. You can see it by clicking here.