Mini is reporting for Mongabay as an intern while working to transform her long-term research group, named PrimatesPeru, into a small conservation and education based non-profit. She is from southern India, where as a child she revelled in the distraction it caused when the local troupe of Rhesus macaques wandered through her classroom. Her fondness for primates has led her from the small, protected forests of Karnataka to the vast wilds of the Amazon, where she and her husband conduct long-term research on some of the world’s smallest monkeys – the tamarins. She loves tropical climates and their inhabitants – from the naiveté of the Galapagos fauna to the magnanimity of the Camp Leakey orang-utans, and Madagascar is next on her list of places to explore. She has recently acquired a Ph.D. in biological anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Now that that’s done, she is looking forward to an exploration of the natural history of the Amazon, leading groups through the rainforest, and spending time with her family, both feline and otherwise.

Articles by Mrinalini Erkenswick Watsa

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