Avotra

The most photogenic team member and the best-liked camp inhabitant was our pet monkey (prosimian, actually), Avotra (AHVtra). Technically, Avotra isn't a lemur but a crowned sifaka (shiFAHK), sifakas being a species very closely related to lemurs. Avotra's name means "saved" in Malagasy; his parents were killed by poachers and he was found in the road as a baby and adopted. As a result of this upbringing he is exceptionally friendly and fond of humans. The radio collar he wears serves both as a safeguard against his being lost, and as a warning to any other poachers that killing this sifaka will have dire consequences.

 
I believe this to be one of the best photos I've ever taken.
Avotra is always most comfortable when clinging to a vertical object. Humans count.
Every morning without fail, Avotra would sit in the same position on this shelter roof and bask in the morning sun.
 
How he could stare into the sun with eyes that big, I don't know, but the light was beautiful on him.
People napping in the hammock would frequently attract his attention.
This image is copyright Luke Dollar 2001. It's also very, very cute.
The interaction of my camera's close-up mode with Avotra's curiosity.
Me posing, as we all did at one point or another, with Avotra.
Avotra enjoyed licking human sweat, in this case from my collar. Indeed, I sweated so much that I was one of his favorite people.
He wasn't usually formally fed, but would just forage around the camp for tasty foliage.
Sifakas do not walk, ever, but cross horizontal spaces in a series of distinctive bipedal bounds. This process is impossible to describe in words, but is a delight to watch. These three images are my more successful attempts to capture the process.

 

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