Field Report: Ocean Monkey

Last weekend Christopher and I had a quiet winter getaway at the Oregon coast and got to see an Ocean Monkey hanging out on the beach.  You probably don't realize how crazy lucky we were to have seen this.  They are super rare, extremely shy and there are researchers who have spent years (years!) hoping to catch a glimpse.  We had the monkey hanging out in the yard where we were staying and playing on the beach right in front of us for almost a full half hour!

The North American ocean monkey (brachyteles hypoceanus) is a very rare and little known species. It is larger than any other new world monkey and very solitary in its tendencies.  The ocean monkey typically lives alone or in very small troops of two or three and never more than five.  It is elusive, wily and rarely seen in the wild.  Due to all these factors the total population is quite difficult to determine but is estimated at less than 50 in total.

As California's coastal population has expanded the ocean monkey has been moving steadily north and today dot the forested coasts of between Northern CA and the PNW.  Increased tourism and coastal development combined with continued global warming has led the few who study this species of brachyteles to predict ocean monkeys will migrate into lower British Columbia by 2030 - if not sooner.

The monkey we observed was on its own and pretty typical size and coloring.  It had the characteristic brow, grey, white mottled hair on the majority of its body with a splash of striking white around the mouth.  It was mostly pretty calm hanging out on the small porch overlooking the ocean and walking back and forth on the beach.  It took notice of Christopher at one point and started playing/flirting with him a bit and we got this pretty sweet picture out of it.