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In urgent need of protection—habitat for the woolly spider monkey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

John Hatton ,
Nick Smart  and
Koy Thomson
John Hatton
Affiliation:
Ecology and Conservation Unit, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Nick Smart
Affiliation:
RSPB, Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK.
Koy Thomson
Affiliation:
Ecology and Conservation Unit, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
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Brazil has more primate species than any other country in the world but large-scale deforestation for agriculture and industry has brought an estimated 22 species to the verge of extinction. Nowhere is this habitat destruction more evident than in Brazil's Atlantic forest ecosystem. Although originally extending along the entire length of the eastern coastline, today only small isolated tracts of primary forest remain. In 1983 the authors, aided by an Oryx 100% Fund grant of £200, carried out a vegetation and habitat survey in the forest of Fazenda Montes Claros, one of the last remaining refuges for the woolly spider monkey Brachyteles arachnoids. The 47 individuals within the forest form the largest single breeding population in the world today. Rapid and effective action is required to secure this habitat if there is to be any hope of saving this primate from extinction.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 24 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1984

References

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