Milestone in unique primate study: Researcher saves 40-year-old ‘hippie monkey’

When Strier first wandered for months under the verdant canopy of the Brazilian rainforest in the early 1980s, little was known about the rare species of monkey except that it was on the brink of extinction. .

Due to heavy deforestation, the habitat of the monkey, which can grow up to five feet long from head to tail, has shrunk considerably.

There were only 50 monkeys left of the endangered species, which turned out to be a rather atypical primate.

Unlike chimpanzees and mountain gorillas, this long-armed ape is surprisingly peace-loving, Strier’s observations have shown.

Males coexist peacefully and it is not in their nature to fight over food, water or females.

They just avoid each other, watch the cat come out of the tree, or even hug each other.

Their remarkably peaceful behavior has earned northern spider monkeys the nickname “hippie monkeys” among scientists and locals.

Karen Strier has now set up a research and conservation program in a 950 hectare protected forest area in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

Here, the population has successfully grown from 50 to 232 spider monkeys, totaling about a fifth of the total population of critically endangered species.

Still endangered

But even if the curve is moving in the right direction, the danger has not yet passed, underlines the primatologist. She sees monkeys as a symbol of the impending global biodiversity crisis.

“Biodiversity is important for the well-being of people and the world,” she previously told the organization. New England Primate Conservatory.

“I think it’s our job as humans to protect as much as we can. We have no right to deprive other species of their future.