Conversation 29 - Excerpt

Jack: How many primates do you have in the lab?

Dr Beech: Twelve right now. There are ten bushbabies and two aye-ayes. The aye-aye pair are in one of the big cages, and the bushbabies are in the other two. One has a family in it- the mother and father and two babies- and the other group are unpaired juveniles, including Maisy and Daisy.

J: Ah.

DB: Oh, and there’s a smaller cage with Max, the old male I started with. He’s the only one you have to be careful of.

J: Careful of? Why?

DB: He bites sometimes. You can go right into the other cages, though. They’re all quite friendly- sometimes too friendly. (laughs) Until you get the food set out, they’ll be all over you looking for it.

J: Well gosh, it sounds easy enough, I suppose. I’ve had enough mice, hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits over the years to know how to take care of mammals pretty well, I think. At least basically. I wanted a capuchin monkey when I was in high school, but Mother drew the line at that.

DB: (laughs) Well, mothers can be that way. Mine still doesn’t understand how her daughter can handle “wild varmints”.