Russell A. Mittermeier

Group activity and population dynamics of the howler monkey on Barro Colorado Island

The mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) of Barro Colorado Island, Panama Canal Zone, was studied in the late rainy season of 1970. Group ranges, group activity patterns and population size and structure were recorded for six groups in a 204 hectare “study area.” A new “trail survey method” was introduced to determine the population size of the entire island. Using this method, a population of 923±125 animals is estimated. Factors affecting group stability and group density are discussed. Rainfall appears to be a major determinant of howler activity and group movement in the late rainy season.

Distribution and ecology of the genusLeontopithecus lesson, 1840 in Brazil

The three forms of the genusLeontopithecus are found only in restricted localities in the States of Rio de Janeiro (Leontopithecus rosalia rosalia), Bahia and Espirito Santo (Leontopithecus rosalia chrysomelas) and São Paulo (Leontopithecus rosalia chrysopygus) in southeastern Brazil. All three are gravely threatened with extinction, mainly by destruction of primitive forest habitat. Diet ofLeontopithecus ssp. consists of fruit, buds, small vertebrates and insects. Group size varies from two to eight, but temporary congregations of up to 15–16 have been observed. Within the forest, the animals frequent the middle layers of the canopy, between three and ten meters above the ground.

A Woolly Monkey Rediscovered in Peru

The Peruvian yellow-tailed woolly monkey, last seen by scientists in 1926 and feared extinct, was rediscovered by the authors in the area of the lower Andes where it was last seen. They were able to bring back a live juvenile that was being kept as a pet, and also four skins and three skulls which they got from a hunter who had shot the animals for meat. The authors urge the need to create a reserve for this rare endemic monkey in Peru and plan further exploratory trips to decide the best area.

New Data on the Taxonomy of the Brazilian Marmosets of the Genus Callithrix Erxleben, 1777

The taxonomy of the marmoset genus Callithrix is re-evaluated. The members of the C. jacchus group ( C. aurita , C. flaviceps ,

Blood biochemistry and relations among Podocnemis turtles (pleurodira, pelomedusidae)

Agglutination, precipitation and electrophoresis of hemoglobin and serum point to a core of five Podocnemis species (P. erythrocephala, P. expansa, P. lewyana, P. unifilis and P. vogli), with a sixth species (P. sextuberculata) fringing this cluster. 1. 2. In addition, the data indicate that P. dumeriliana and P. madagascariensis not only are generically distinct from the other six species, but also are not closely related to each other. The name Peltocephalus Dumeril & Bibron, 1835, is available for Podocnemis dumeriliana, while Erymnochelys Baur, 1888, should be used for P. madagascariensis.

Primate Ranching – Results of an Experiment

It is becoming increasingly difficult for biomedical research workers to get the wild primates they consider essential for their work. Successful primate ranching could help solve the problem. In 1967 a well-known animal dealer in Colombia, Mike Tsalickis of Leticia, released over 5000 squirrel monkeys on an island in the Amazon in the hope of quick breeding results. Five years later he estimated the island monkey population at over 20,000, and the experiment appeared to have been very successful; later counts, however, suggested considerable errors in the figures and that the monkeys had in fact decreased catastrophically. The authors describe this and other experiments, some successful, but only as a result of expensive supplemental feeding.

Brazil's National Parks

Brazil is the largest country in South America in both population and area, and ranks fifth largest in the world at 8,511,965 km 2 . Lying mainly in the tropics, its immense variety of habitat types ranges from the vast, luxuriant Amazon rain forests in the north to the Atlantic coastal forests in the east, the savannas of the central plateau and the Brazilian pine forests and flat, almost treeless pampas of the south; its great diversity of animal species includes some found nowhere else in the world.