Bored with monkeys?

In response to yesterday’s Toucan post, Will from The Bearded Wanderer raised the question of whether I might get bored with toucans if I see them every day. This is linked to something termed the ‘Monkey Theory’, the phenomenon that many travellers experience: each successive time you see a monkey (or some other novelty), the thrill is less than the time before. I remember this from my travelling days. The first time I saw a long line of leaf-cutter ants, I was in awe. I watched them for ages and even filmed them. Fast-forward 6 months and I’d just step over them without giving them a second look.

But being the literal minded person that I am, I wondered if I had actually become bored of monkeys. Tiny Common Marmosets (known locally as micos) roam all over Rio and we regularly hear them running up and down the telephone wires in the morning. Rather like the toucans, when I first heard the micos I thought to myself “what is that annoying noise?” – they make a super high-pitched squeal that I suspect will be out of my hearing range in a few years (can’t wait!).

When I discovered that the noise was coming from real-life monkeys running around outside my window, I was very excited. Nowadays, as I’m usually late for work, I mostly ignore them. However, when you take the time to watch them, they are rather nice:

Ahhhhh, look at his little hand!

However, these loveable little fellows have a dark side. They are actually native to the Northeast of Brazil and thus are considered an invasive species here in the state of Rio (seems that they were kept as pets and then escaped or were released). They eat the eggs and nestlings of native birds and are also thought to cause problems for native marmosets and the rather lovely (and very endangered) Golden lion tamarin through competition.

Urgh! Suddenly not so cute!

So, have I grown bored of these monkeys? I have to be honest and say that although I disapprove of them and I do ignore them when I’m in a hurry, they are still great fun to watch if you have some time.

Have you experienced the Monkey Effect?