SURVIVING THE AMAZON – JUNGLE JUNIORS

Every year, two hundred thousand of Peru’s monkeys are trafficked illegally, almost all of them babies. Isla de los Monos, island of the monkeys, gives victims of the pet trade, legal and illegal hunting a second chance

Every year, two hundred thousand of Peru’s monkeys are trafficked illegally, almost all of them babies. Isla de los Monos, island of the monkeys, gives victims of the pet trade, legal and illegal hunting a second chance. Jungle Juniors documents the struggles of these youngsters to survive without their mother’s care or the protection of a natal troop on this unique island. Recent arrivals Emita, Rusa and Celia have been nursed back to health by the conservationists. They now roam free on the island. Baby spider monkey Emita was snatched from her mother as a newborn, now she must fight for acceptance from the only other female spider monkey on the island if she’s to survive. Even in their mothers care, their prospects of survival aren’t good. One in five spider monkey babies don’t reach their first birthday. But will adventurous Lucera take Emita under her wing and help her beat these odds? With no other howler monkeys on the island, how will six month old Rusa learn the ways of her own kind: how to behave, how to stay safe, when she’s older, how to howl? Indigenous tribes legally hunt woolly monkeys for their meat. Celia’s mother was legally shot dead by hunters for food but then, very illegally, baby Celia was prized from her arms and taken to be sold as a pet. Without her mother’s milk, she faced certain death. But traumatized and starving she was rescued and brought to the safety of Isla de Los Monos. Lucky for orphaned Celia, there are eleven other woolly monkeys on the island. Will Celia be accepted by this unlikely troop of young woolly monkeys? Upstream other juniors are going it alone. A clutch of yellow-spotted river turtles have just hatched. Already they’re on a life or death mission to reach the waters edge or die trying! Predators are everywhere – on land and in the air. A baby caiman is desperate to find a safe haven to learn to hunt but at this size even his own kind is a threat. Half of all sloth fatalities occur on their weekly toilet trip to the jungle floor, can one displaced young three-toed sloth survive the treacherous rainforest?