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Ranging Behaviour, Daily Path Lengths, Diet and Habitat Use of Yellow-Tailed Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix flavicauda) at La Esperanza, Peru

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The Woolly Monkey

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR,volume 39))

Abstract

The yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda) is Critically Endangered and endemic to a small area of the Andean forest in northern Peru. I collected data on the home ranges, daily path lengths, diet and habitat use of two groups of O. flavicauda. Group follows took place at La Esperanza, Amazonas department, for 15 months between October 2009 and February 2011. The study site comprised a matrix of disturbed primary and regenerating secondary cloud forest. Home ranges were between 95 and 147 ha using 95 % minimum convex polygons, and home range overlap between the two groups was 1.6 ha. The range used by both groups varied between the wet and dry seasons. Daily path lengths were between 1.03 and 1.2 km. Fruit was the most commonly consumed dietary item followed by leaves and insects; a total of 16 plant resources were identified. There was a significant increase in consumption of leaves and insects during the dry seasons. Both groups used a variety of habitats but were only occasionally observed to use areas of white-sand forest. Home range and daily path length estimates are similar to results from studies of other woolly monkeys (Lagothrix spp.), although home ranges were among the smallest recorded for woolly monkeys. O. flavicauda at La Esperanza are less frugivorous than Lagothrix spp., and the estimates here are lower than those from the previous preliminary work at this site. My results suggest that O. flavicauda are able to survive in disturbed habitat with small home ranges and at high group densities. More research is urgently needed at other sites with different ecological conditions to enable proper conservation planning and actions.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Noga Shanee, Nestor Allgas Marchena, Keefe Keely, Jermaine Clark, Josefin Sundberg, Linda Romero, Karla Ramirez and many other researchers for their help in the field and with analysis. Also, Leyda Rimerachin and Oscar Gammara Torres for help in identifying botanical samples. This work was funded by the Neotropical Primate Conservation, thanks to grants from the International Primate Protection League—UK, Wild Futures, Apenheul Primate Conservation Trust, La Vallee des Singes, International Primate Protection League—US, Primate Conservation Inc., Community Conservation and the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation. I would also like to thank the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales/Ministerio de Agricultura and Dirección General de Flora y Fauna Silvestre/Ministerio de Agricultura for permission to carry out this investigation (Autorización N 122-2008-INRENA-IFFS-DCB, N 102-2009-AG-DGFFS-DGEFFS and N 384-2010-AG-DGFFS-DGEFFS), the Universidad Nacional Torribeo Rodriguez de Mendoza, Servicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas, Instituto de Investigación de la Amazonia Peruana, Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental and the Asociación Peruana para la Conservación de la Naturaleza. Finally, I thank the countless local authorities and campesinos for all their help and guidance during fieldwork.

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  1. Neotropical Primate Conservation, 23 Portland Road, Stretford, M32 0PH, Manchester, UK

    Sam Shanee

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  1. Departamento de Biología, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, CUNDINAMARCA, Colombia

    Thomas R. Defler

  2. Ciencias Biologicas, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

    Pablo R. Stevenson

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Shanee, S. (2014). Ranging Behaviour, Daily Path Lengths, Diet and Habitat Use of Yellow-Tailed Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix flavicauda) at La Esperanza, Peru. In: Defler, T., Stevenson, P. (eds) The Woolly Monkey. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects, vol 39. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0697-0_10

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