Monkey Business

I put my camera down.

The scene was too amusing to remain detached and focused on mundane things like composition and carefully considered camera settings.

I was sitting on the ground, right in front of the bungalow I was staying in. In front of me a Lion Tailed Macaque was utterly captivated by an empty coconut shell. It studied it closely. It tried to peer through it. It gnawed at it in various ways. After a while, it seemed to get frustrated that it hadn’t unlocked the magic key to understanding the shell and threw it away -  only to return a few minutes later and explore it again with no satisfactory result.

 This guy was really fascinated by this coconut shell.

Monkeys, in general, are fascinating to watch and the lion tailed macaques ( LTMs ) I had come to photograph were no different.

They rarely sat still. They clambered on top of our car, they swung from the trees, fought and played with each other, groomed each other and when they felt like it, indulged in a quick round of mating. One of them got on a motorbike and was fascinated by its reflection in the rear view mirror. It kept moving its hand behind the mirror to try and figure out where the other monkey was. It was all rather amusing to watch.

I was around for only two days. The impression that I had was that the LTMs are generally present all around you. However, on the  first day my experience was different. I drove up and down the meandering roads searching for them. I came across only one small group too deep in the forests to take any photographs.

The second day, however, squashed any concerns. I was reading in my room when I heard loud clattering on the roof. It seemed a lot more than that caused by a few twigs falling down. I stepped out to investigate and found a large group right outside my room. They must have found me rather boring as they vanished rather quickly, only to return after a couple of hours. This time they stayed put for a few hours, doing what they do best - monkey business.

Sadly, these impressive looking animals, endemic to the Western Ghats, are facing challenges. The estimated number in the wild is just around 4000. As always the chief culprit is their rapidly decreasing habitat – the rainforests of the Western Ghats. Timber harvesting, expanding tea and coffee estates are eating away their ecosystem. These green estates look green and strikingly pretty like a post card and one might be fooled into believing that the green cover is maintained but the reality is different. The tree cover is reducing and when that is coupled with a difficulty in adaptation that the LTM has shown so far, the future looks worrying.

On top of it, there are risks of another kind coming from increasing proximity with humankind. The LTMs tend to roam around through the day and this often leads them to cross the busy highways, leading to roadkills. Their comfort with humans also lead them to approach vehicles for food and unfortunately, mostly from ignorance of the harm they are causing, many people tend to feed the LTMs.

It was gratifying to see that there were people appointed by the NCF ( Nature Conservation Foundation ) who were stationed at the points where the LTMs tend to cross the road. These people stop the traffic when there is movement of the LTMs. They also ensure that the vehicles don’t offer food to the LTMs.

Sometimes, small steps can make a big difference.

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The forest was a brilliant deep green. The leaves shone and sparkled as it was frequently raining. The tree trunks were similarly drenched and rested in a deep shade of contentment.

However, I felt that the colour was a distraction. I wanted to focus on the LTMs and the richness of the colours felt too arresting and a digression. Monochrome helps subdue the richness of the colour and brings the focus on the main subject - the lion tailed macaques.

Look at his expression. Is he worried ? And those eyes ! It was drizzling a little earlier and I love the water droplets still on him. Though, I wish that branch above his head wasn't there.

 Attitude !!! As these guys walked down the main gate, there was one specific point when the light fell squarely on their face and if they happen to be looking in the right direction they looked rather majestic.

 Awwww....I like the fact that the mother is looking away and that the kid is looking straight at the camera. Look at those large wide eyes !

Pensive. Must be some serious problem that is being grappled with.

I read it as hope. That something good will fall from above. They keep looking up at the trees, possibly to look at the rest of their group and I was trying to get similar frames. With the right expression and light, it could give a nice frame.

This guy looks like that old grizzled uncle who has seen everything and firmly believes that a monkey's place is in the trees and this new fangled notion of being on the ground in close proximity to the humans is just lack of maturity and a risky fad

I have been caught peeping through the bushes ! This chap's shocked :)

Another LTM looks heavenward. I love the play of light here.

That's a serious amount of mane. Very impressive.