Red Uakari Monkeys Thriving at Tapiche
The Red Uakari Monkeys (Cacajao calvus ucayalii) are a rare and fascinating species that unites incredible agility, strength and beauty. Visitors from all over the world have come to visit the Tapiche Jungle Reserve in the Northern Amazon of Peru to observe this distinct species in the wild. Encounters with these stunning new world monkeys never fail to amaze us. Not a lot has been reported on their natural behaviour in the wild and it is truly amazing to be able to make these first-hand observations of such a special mammal.
The Red Uakaris are easily distinguished from any other monkey by their distinctive and unique colour: their long fur is a bright orange and their faces are bright red. This bright red and orange colouring perfectly contrasts to all the different shades of green of the jungle which makes the Red Uakari pop out visually, yet when they want to hide, they simply duck into the inner branches of the trees and blend into the shadows. Their faces and the top of their heads are bald which makes their red faces appear very human-like.
Unlike other species of monkeys at the Tapiche Reserve that might use their long tails to hang down from branches or swing from tree to tree (known as prehensile tails), the Red Uakaris only have little, stumpy tails (non-prehensile tails). Because of this, they have developed amazing agility and strength in their arms, legs, hands and feet. They move through the trees elegantly and with amazing agility, leaping fearlessly and grasping branches with impressive strength. When foraging for food, we often observe them hanging down from their feet and toes to better reach the food, as you can see different individuals do in the video. The Red Uakaris feed on seeds and fruits, leaves, nectar and insects. One of their main food sources are the yellow Aguaje fruits (Mauritia flexuosa).
The Red Uakari Monkeys are classified a vulnerable species by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), their main threats being hunting, habitat loss due to illegal logging and the extraction of one of their main food sources: the aguaje fruit. Especially in our region the fruits of this palm tree are very popular, being sold in huge quantities on local markets, and unfortunately the predominant harvesting method here is to cut down the entire tree in order to retrieve their fruits. The Tapiche Jungle Reserve actively protects primary rainforest and has big areas of aguaje palm trees – the “Aguajales”. We have healthy populations of the Red Uakari Monkey on both sides of the Tapiche River throughout the reserve and have seen big groups of up to 200 individuals. We suspect that groups have concentrated inside the protected areas of the reserve, because here they can enjoy living safely in undisturbed primary rainforest.
Lean back and imagine you sit on a small canoe in one of the creeks of the Tapiche Jungle Reserve in the middle of the Amazon River basin, 400km away from the bustling city. You are surrounded by pristine primary rainforest, listening to the jungle music of hundreds of birds, mammals and insects, and you are observing this group of the amazing Red Uakari Monkey foraging and passing through with their young ones on their backs. Enjoy!
To read about the first time that Murilo Reis, director of the Tapiche Jungle Reserve, was able to see the amazing Red Uakari Monkey at the reserve in 2013, see this blog post.
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