20 



Wild-living adult wooly spider monkey (Brachyteles arachnoiaes) 

 photographed by a Sao Paulo Zoo staff member in one of the few 

 natural habitats remaining in Sao Paulo State^ Courtesy Sao Paulo 

 Zoo. 



Evenings were cool. After I and the others plucked 

 the mites and ticks picked up by our bodies during the 

 day, and after a refreshing cold shower, we relaxed with 

 a delicious meal prepared by chef Philip. Evenings were 

 devoted to writing up observations of the day and dis- 

 cussing plans for the next. We retired for the night with 

 lingering thoughts of what the traps would hold next 

 day. 



Preparation and Preservation 



Up before dawn for an early breakfast and visit to the 

 traps, I to my traplines, each of the three other mem- 

 bers of the team to theirs. Bat nets hung the evening 

 before were inspected, usually by Marcelo, and relieved 

 of their catch, if any. The nets were then lowered for 

 the day, or removed for hanging elsewhere. Unproduc- 

 tive traplines were also picked up for placement in pre- 

 selected habitats. Captured animals were brought to 

 headquarters, the bats in a bag, the others in their 

 traps. These operations consumed the entire morning. 

 After lunch, the animals were checked, the live ones 

 sacrificed. Each was numbered, measured, weighed, 

 examined for embryos or reproductive state, parasites 

 removed for preservation in alcohol. The data were re- 

 corded in field catalogs and notebooks. Preparation 

 and preservation of each specimen included skinning 

 in a special way, stuffing the hide with cotton, tagging 

 with number and date, and pinning down on fiber- 

 board to dry. Skeletal material was cleaned and hung 

 out to dry; entire animals and selected carcasses and 

 organs were preserved in a mixture of alcohol and for- 

 malin. During the hours of preparation Phil addressed 

 questions generated by our work, discoursed on mam- 



mals in general, and on our scientific objectives in par- 

 ticular. 



When and Where 



Marsupials, we were told, were in South America since 

 or perhaps before the continent split off from Africa 80 

 or 90 million years ago. After a long period of domi- 

 nance, only the smallest, more primitive or more 

 generalized species among the marsupials survived to 

 this day and now abound in the Atlantic forest. Very 

 little is known of the history of bats but they could have 

 been in South America as long as any other placental 

 mammal. There seemed to be fewer bat species here 

 than in the equatorial forests. Two of the three major 

 groups of South American rodents are well represented 

 in fossil records. Squirrels, abundant now in South 

 America, left no fossil record on the continent. The 

 group known as spiny rats and relatives appeared in 

 South America at least 30 million years ago, or about 

 the same time as the South American monkeys. Some 

 scientists argue that they were already on the continent 

 when it began to drift away from Africa. Field mice and 

 forest mice, collectively sigmodontines because of the 



A breeding colony of marmosets (Callithhx jacchus) of the Centro de 

 Primatologia. 



