Mom to the Rescue!

This morning while we were having breakfast a small baby howler monkey lost its footing high up in a palm tree and came crashing down to hit the concrete pavement. It was a horrible sight to see its motionless body laying on the ground. Many of us got up and went to see what was happening. The staff at the hotel must be used to this kind of thing, because they quickly moved us out of the way so not to crowd around it. The mother was up in the tree and she would not come down to aid her baby with humans too close. We all backed up and slowly the motionless body began to move and the stunned baby was able to sit up. It looked dazed and confused but could hear its mother talking. It slowly made its way to a tree and began to climb it. As it clung to the trunk of the tree, the mother moved slowly and carefully lending a hand so the baby could get to her back and its life in the trees. I was able to stay far enough away so as not to interfere but close enough to capture this little miracle on video. What started out as heart wrenching moment turned into a wonderful ending. Human nature would have been to pick the baby up to see if it was injured but the staff was smart enough to know that the mother would have rejected the baby had it come in contact with humans. Letting nature take its course was the way to go. Here is the video, I thought you would enjoy it. Notice at the end that the baby securely wraps its tail around the mothers tail so as not to fall again!