A Monkey Riding a Parrot? It Happens!

 

A Monkey Riding a Parrot? It Happens!

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David Moye Contributor

AOL News

(Nov. 19) — The phrase "I’ve got a monkey on my back" is being taken literally among animals in captivity.
Recently in San Agustin, Colombia, a lazy monkey started doing the animal kingdom’s version of shacking up with a male and female parrot at a countryside hotel.
The owners of the hotel says the squirrel monkey eats and plays with his bird-brained roommates.

Best Buddies

Alejandro Jaramillo, Solent News / Rex / Rex USA

90 photos

This lazy monkey hitches a ride to the top of a tree — by sitting on the back of a parrot. The squirrel monkey, which lives with a male and female parrot at a hotel in Colombia, was photographed by Alejandro Jaramillo after it hopped onto the macaw. These kinds of bizarre inter-species friendship aren’t unheard of, but they aren’t common.

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Best Buddies

This lazy monkey hitches a ride to the top of a tree — by sitting on the back of a parrot. The squirrel monkey, which lives with a male and female parrot at a hotel in Colombia, was photographed by Alejandro Jaramillo after it hopped onto the macaw. These kinds of bizarre inter-species friendship aren’t unheard of, but they aren’t common.

Alejandro Jaramillo, Solent News / Rex / Rex USA

Alejandro Jaramillo, Solent News / Rex / Rex USA

On the other hand, the monkey doesn’t exactly go bananas about exerting himself when he doesn’t have to, so he often hitches a ride to the tree tops by sitting on the back of one of the birds.
The hotel owners, who own the birds, tolerate the monkey most of the time, but, according to photographer Alejandro Jaramillo, they do have to occasionally throw water at him to get him off the birds.
Lazy monkeys haven’t quite become an epidemic — yet! — but they are more common than you might think.
For instance, at the Fukuchiyama City Zoo in Kyoto, Japan, a baby monkey named Miwa has been palling around with a young boar named Uribo since they both lost their moms in June.

Kazuhiro Nogi, AFP / Getty Images

A baby monkey named Miwa rides a young boar named Uribo in Fukuchiyama City Zoo in Kyoto, Japan, on Oct. 19. Both have been sheltered by the zoo since June after losing their mothers.

But is this kind of rainbow connection, peace-love, we-are-all-one attitude common in nature?
Well, sort of, and not really.
Dr. Jason Chatfield, the staff veterinarian and general curator of Jungle Island, a Miami-based theme park that hosts a variety of wild animals, says this sort of inter-species friendship is unusual in the wild.
"Honestly, the law of the jungle is, only the strong survive, and primates tend to travel in packs," Chatfield said. "If one mother dies, the other mother will adopt the dead mother’s child."
Chatfield says there might some friendships between animals that have formed in the wild, but he’s never heard of them.
"Usually, these partnerships only happen in captivity," he said. "And it has to happen when the animals are young and raised together so that they can overcome their natural instinct to kill. This wouldn’t happen if they were adults."
Since these inter-species friendships only form in captivity, they might seem "unnatural," but Chatfield won’t speculate on whether they are right or wrong.
"I can’t say whether they are a positive or negative aspect of being in captivity, but I will say this: Animals do better with a friend even if it isn’t from the same species."
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A Monkey Riding a Parrot? It Happens!

Something Nice

Her hair was up in a pony tail, her favorite dress tied with a bow.

Today was Daddy’s Day at school, and she couldn’t wait to go.

But her mommy tried to tell her, that she probably should stay home. Why the kids might not understand, if she went to school alone.

But she was not afraid; she knew just what to say. What to tell her classmates of why he wasn’t there today. But still her mother worried, for her to face this day alone. And that was why once again, she tried to keep her daughter home. But the little girl went to school
eager to tell them all. About a dad she never sees a dad who never calls.

There were daddies along the wall in back, for everyone to meet.  Children squirming impatiently, anxious in their seats.  One by one the teacher called a student from the class. To introduce their daddy, as seconds slowly passed.

At last the teacher called her name, every child turned to stare.  Each of them was searching, a man who wasn’t there.

"Where’s her daddy at?" She heard a boy call out.
"She probably doesn’t have one,"another student dared to shout. 

And from somewhere near the back, she heard a daddy say, "Looks like another deadbeat dad, too busy to waste his day."

The words did not offend her, as she smiled up at her Mom . And looked back at her teacher, who told her to go on. And with hands behind her back, slowly she began to speak.  And out from the mouth of a child, came words incredibly unique.

"My Daddy couldn’t be here, because he lives so far away. But I know he wishes he could be, since this is such a special day.  And though you cannot meet him, I wanted you to know. All about my daddy, and how much he loves me so. He loved to tell me stories he taught me to ride my bike.  He surprised me with pink roses, and taught me to fly a kite.

We used to share fudge sundaes, and ice cream in a cone.  And though you cannot see him, I’m not standing here alone. "Cause my daddy’s always with me, even though we are apart.  I know because he told me, he’ll forever be in my heart"

With that, her little hand reached up, and lay across her chest.
Feeling her own heartbeat, beneath her favorite dress. And from somewhere there in the crowd of dads, her mother stood in tears.  Proudly watching her daughter, who was wise beyond her years.

For she stood up for the love of a man not in her life.
Doing what was best for her, doing what was a right. And when she dropped her hand back down, staring straight into the crowd.  She finished with a voice so soft, but its message clear and loud.

"I love my daddy very much, he’s my shining star.  And if he could, he’d be here, but heaven’s just too far. You see he is an American Soldier and died just this past year, when a roadside bomb hit his convoy and taught Americans to fear.  But sometimes when I close my eyes, it’s like he never went away.  And then she closed her eyes, and saw him there that day.

And to her mother’s amazement, she witnessed with surprise.

A room full of daddies and children, all starting to close their eyes. Who knows what they saw before them, who knows what they felt inside.
Perhaps for merely a second, they saw him at her side. "I know you’re with me Daddy," to the silence she called out.  And what happened next made believers, of those once filled with doubt. Not one in that room could explain it, for each of their eyes had been closed.  But there on the desk beside her, was a fragrant long-stemmed pink rose.

A child was blessed, if only for a moment, by the love of her shining star.  And given the gift of believing, that heaven is never too far.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.

Send this to the people you’ll never forget and remember to send it also to the person that sent it to you. It’s a short message to let them know that you’ll never forget them.

If you don’t send it to anyone, it means you’re in a hurry and that you’ve forgotten your friends.

Take the time…to live and love.

Until eternity..

God Bless