Humboldt's woolly monkeys decimated by hunting in Amazonia

Abstract

Humboldt's woolly monkeys Lagothrix lagotricha have been systematically hunted, mostly for food, to the point of becoming locally extinct wherever humans share their habitat. Remaining populations in the extensive lowland Amazonian range of this species are restricted to remote, unflooded terra firme forests. These populations are, however, quickly wiped out once access is opened by new roads. Terra firme forests, even in entirely undisturbed sites, are seasonally far less productive and can only sustain relatively low population densities. Woolly monkeys are currently more susceptible to hunting than perhaps any other vertebrate in the New World tropics and, as such, should be regarded as highly endangered.