Since the last update it has been relatively calm here at Esperanza Verde. The storm, El-Nino, that seems to have gotten its worst on Peru have thankfully not affected us in any special way.
Tamana, the female tamandua was released and two dove chicks found by Kayla’s friend were brought over here. Also we got a new baby male woolly monkey, named Koki. Right now he stays at the clinic, but he is doing fine. The family enjoyed a two week holiday in Lima together with Olivias parents who came all the way from Holland, leaving Alex and Irene and Kees (two long term volunteers) in charge of Esperanza Verde. Winnie, finished veterinary student from Switzerland, arrived and took great care of the medical side of things whilst the family was gone. The family returned together with the parents who spent a few nights here before returning back to Holland.

Monkeys

Wallace (male baby red howler monkey)

One of everyone’s favorites, Wallace, who arrived last month is doing really well and growing incredibly fast. He moved from the family house to the cabin where he is in Alex´s care. During the day some volunteers still take turns babysitting him, which has become much easier as he now loves to play in the trees with the other monkeys. Our adult capuchin, Mica, has once again showed that she’s amazing in taking care of the new baby. Wallace spends most of his playtime with her and also Yanay (female spider monkey) and Willow (male woolly monkey) have been sharing the babysitting duties.

Camila´s baby (sex unknown, squirrel monkey)

The baby of Camila is also growing incredibly fast. We see the baby climbing around by herself more often than on Camila´s back. She was also spotted getting carried around by Nikita, a female capuchin. It seems that Nikita is taking over, because we see the baby very often on the back of the capuchin. We still do not know the sex of the baby but we will continue to wait in excitement!

Other Mammals

Tamana (juvenile female Tamandua)

The tamandua, Tamana, who arrived last month has been released across the small stream by Esperanza Verde and has not been seen since then. Douwe took all the volunteers and the kids to watch the release. It was beautiful to see! She immediately climbed up a tree towards a termite nest and we are confident that she will do well.

Rincay (male tapir)

The friendly tapir steels everyone’s heart with his blue eyes. Did you know that this is very rare? Normally the color of the eyes gets darker when a tapir turns older, but Rincay is keeping his blue ones. He is doing really well together with his best friend Pepito (male, tortoise). Recently their cage got an upgrade; Rincay has now a big shelter built by the local worker Machico and we see him often chilling under his roof.

Timo (male young, collared peccary)

The three peccaries are doing great and Timo is growing fast. Last week it was time to put Timo on a scale, but first we had to distract the other peccaries. Together with some patience and food we got him alone and we could weight him. Timo has a healthy weight and everything is good.

Kiko and Kila (male and female kinkajou)

The kinkajous are doing really good and they´re almost ready to be released. Last week they got their last parasite treatment and we found out that Kila had a botfly in her shoulder. Douwe and Olivia removed the parasite together with two of our Swiss volunteers, who have studied veterinarian medicine.

Birds

Rhaegar & Daenerys (male and female mealy amazon parrots)

Rhaegar and Daenerys have finally moved into the Igor cage, together with the seven parakeets that were still there. The birds seemed really happy together and they always wants to talk with the volunteers when they´re cleaning the cage and giving them the food.

Churi (many-banded arasari)
Even though Churi sits alone in his cage, he often gets visits of the volunteers. When Churi gets fresh food, he sometimes wants to share it with the volunteers and he tries to feed them. And volunteers enjoy making enrichment for him, so we make sure that he isn´t getting bored.

SUST Animal Orphan Hospital

Several animals are treated or given special treatment (e.g. milk and vitamins for all baby monkeys) on a daily basis from out of our Hospital. In this section we mention some of the more special cases.

Koki (male baby woolly monkey)

Last Friday Koki arrived to Esperanza Verde. He was kept as a pet in the nearby village Bello Horizonte and one of the workers brought him here. At the moment Koki stays at the clinic for a couple of weeks, this way we can have an eye on him and make sure he is doing fine.

Lulu (female two-toed sloth)

After Lulu´s growth spurt last month she doesn’t seem to have stopped growing. She eats better and better every day and is starting to drink less milk. She is climbing faster and more confidently than last month and eating lots of leaves at the same time. Also, she has been getting a lot more playful. Now we often have to wait for long periods of time besides a tree whilst she plays, the same as with Wallace.

Chipi (male ruddy ground dove)

One morning Geiler arrived carrying a small box with two chicks that one of Kayla´s friends had given him. One had a broken leg which we taped to its chest in hopes that it would heal properly. We still had hope for three days but eventually the chick died. The other chick, now named Chipi, had more luck and spent its first few nights in the room of Laura, a Dutch volunteer, so she could keep her eyes on him during night. After that Chipi moved up to the clinic where he now is doing well!

Frederick (white-winged parakeet)

The parakeet that arrived in the clinic last month because of a wound on his chest was eventually named Frederick. His wound is all healed and last week we brought him to the Casa cage, where we keep our resident parakeets or parakeets that for some reason can´t be released at the moment. Our hopes are that he will soon be able to rejoin the other parakeets in Pepe cage.

Soraya (young female prehensile-tailed porcupine)

Soraya has a small wound on her left foot, which we´re taking care of. Giving her a bigger cage with a dirt floor instead of a cement floor will help the healing of her foot and overall Soraya is doing great. So, that means she moved out to a new cage away from the clinic. She still gets vitamines from the SUST Animal Orphan Hospital and hopefully she will recover quick from her wound. Right now we´re busy trying to figuring out what kind of species she exactly is. Soon as we get the results back, we will let you know!

Construction

General Maintenance

Last month the volunteers have shown great initiative by doing construction on all of the paths at Esperanza Verde. Carrying stones to make wet parts easier to walk over, adding steps where needed and rack all the paths. Also a new bridge was made from the family house to the kinkajou cage and the new guest house. A special thanks to our Dutch volunteer Kees!

New guest house

The building of the new guest house is going fast and it looks already very nice with a small veranda at the front side. The floor is finished and the workers are now busy with the kitchen and the bathroom. Douwe and Geiler are doing a great job here!

Volunteers

Machico took some of the volunteers to another forest walk. Together with his machete he cleared the paths for them and they really enjoyed the four hour walk. Also Kayla is often taking some volunteers out during the evening to catch shrimps and crabs in the river. Because of El Nino we had some troubles with our food supply, because Pucallpa was hard to reach. We were low on fresh vegetables but luckily we had enough other things. Every night the volunteers put together a very creative and delicious meal and we weren’t hungry at all. Raining season is almost over, so that means we can build a bonfire more often. The best way to end a working day!