What is your favourite New world primate species ?

What is your favourite New world primate species and why ?

I'm very curious to hear your replies.

 

It's just hard to pick one. but the one I like most are Aotidae (I can't distinguish the species well),

 

The owl monkeys are fabulous animals, very interesting in so many ways from their looks, general ecology, reproductive biology. I'm very fond of them too.

Have you seen these in zoos before?

 

I'm fond of them all, but the Chiropotes species complex is interesting, with their beards and poofy helmet-like hairdos. I've only seen Chiropotes chiropotes, the red-backed, although they were mislabeled C. satanas.

 

I only have clear memory of seeing one in Nagasaki bio park. Otherwise even if I visited a zoo with one I don't recall seeing them.

 

I take it that this zoo was in Japan ?

Yes, they most definitely are a striking species complex. I love the way that you described their look! They do sort of have an early 1960's Beatles hair style.

The Latin / scientific name of the black bearded saki is quite fun too, I always imagine some god fearing , stuck up / pretentious and puritanical Victorian naturalist being shocked by the large testes and sort of devilish appearance with the beard etc. and labelling it Chiropotes satanas LOL.

A close friend of mine actually studied the cuxiús (as it is called in Brazil) in the Amazon rainforest for his Masters.

 

Woolly Spider Monkey. I love those!!!

 

Muriquis ?

Yes, I love them too. They are a really underrated species (I wish they were as known to the world as other primates are) and yet so fascinating for so many reasons.

I've been really fortunate to have worked with these in captivity and to have worked with quite a few people involved in the conservation of the Northern species.

Have you read Karen Strier's "Faces in the Forest"? If you haven't read this yet then I highly reccomend this book to you.

 

There are so many interesting neotropical primates that it is very difficult for me to select a favourite although I am especially interested in saki monkeys and uakaris; red uakari would probably be my favourite. (I have fond memories of the days when Cologne Zoo had a great collection of both saki monkeys and uakaris.)

I also like marmosets and tamarins very much. And I regret that I've never seen a muriqui (woolly spider monkey); I would love to see one but doubt I ever will.

 

The sakis and uakaris are most definitely very interesting primates and really quite understudied too.

The red uakari is an incredible species I agree and I think it has to be one of the strangest looking primates of them all. It is also very rare in captivity in zoos now (even within South America) as I understand it so you were really lucky to have seen these.

Never say never Tim. If you ever come to Brazil I would be more than happy to introduce you to the Southern muriquis at Sorocaba zoo and put you in touch with some colleagues who work in the in-situ conservation of the Northern species.

 

Any woolly monkey species would have to be my favorite. I've never seen them - and probably never will - but I think they're really cute.

 

A great and very threatened genus of monkeys too , I agree.

You must be feeling especially pessimistic today because that is a really negative statement and quite exagerated too considering you live in the United States and there are probably numerous zoos that hold Lagothrix.

Of course you will see some of these animals one day.

 

Omaha might still have woolly monkeys. I think they would be the only North American holder, though.

 

Are they particularly rare in zoos in the USA or something ?

Maybe, I'm thinking of South America and Europe where they are somewhat common but I would have imagined that many zoos in the USA would have been keeping woolly monkeys.

 

Going into this I just want to say that I'm a bit biased towards the Old World when it comes to primates, but New World favourites are probably Woolly Monkey, Red Howler, and maybe a Douroucoulli species or the Red-backed Saki coming in third.

Woolly Monkeys are fantastic, I have many happy memories watching them (and Red Howlers ) at Twycross as a child. I also have memories of the Uakari as well, but it/they weren't as active so therefore not in my top 3/4 list...

 

I see, I suppose I have the opposite bias but when it comes to New World monkeys .

I do find a lot of the Old World monkeys interesting (particularly the langurs) but when it comes to the Old World primates I just find the prosimians to be far more captivating.

They are indeed fantastic ! Woolly monkeys being a bit more interesting to watch in terms of being generally far more active than howlers which can be pretty lethargic (unless they are performing their calls....) I guess.

Wow , so Twycross once kept uakari then ?

 

Yep, until 2001 according to Zootierliste. Never realised they were kept that recently, I thought they were gone by the early nineties.

 

With the bald uakari I know that it has proved to be quite a challenging species to keep alive in captivity (not at all promising actually considering what is happening to Amazonia) due to its nutritional requirements.

Maybe those kept at Twycross didn't fare too well due to these sorts of problems and ended up disappearing from the collection after a couple of years ?

 

Indeed the female red uakari "Blossom" lived for nearly thirty-two years at Twycross and, I believe, holds the longevity record for that subspecies.

 

1968 -2001, and a mention in Weigl's Longevity Of Mammals In Captivity... Quite a substantial period.