A New Refuge for Woolly Monkeys in the Peruvian Amazon

By: Lucy Molleson and Helene Collongues de Palomino, Ikamaperu, Peru
May 2005
The Ikamaperu Rescue Centre cares for woolly monkeys rescued from the illegal pet trade.
Lucy Molleson of IPPL-Uk is working at the project site.

There are now only a few weeks left before we transfre our group of rescued woolly monkeys to their new home, a 45-hectare (over 11 acre) refuge of forest along the Rio Mayo, in northern Peru. Everyone is excited, and nervous, well aware that this new move will test the monkeys' ability to adapt to a more natural life.

It has been a long five-year journey to get to this stage. Some of the ophaned monkeys were handed over to the Ikamaperu project in poor health, critically ill, and malnourished. They had been kept as pets by people who did not realize that these infants need a very special diet and quite intensive care just to survive. The smallest babies have at times needed round-the-clock attention, but now-thanks to a good, balanced diet and the freedom to exercise and forage outside in sunshine-ten of these monkeys have fully regained their physical health. They have boundless energy and are more than ready to move to a bigger territory.

The rehabilitation process

While they may be in good physical shape, it is important for us to make sure that the woollies are independent enough to move on from the safety of the rescue center. Having grown up in a sheltered environment, they will also need to rediscover the survival skills of wild monkeys.

Watching the monkeys progress over the past four years, it is incredibly satisfying to see how they have learned to live together as a social group, and in doing so have become progressively more independent from us. Apu, the adult and dominant male, has assumed an authority over the youngsters, maintaining order and giving them a sense of security, Suwa, the oldest female, has become an adventurous forager, and the less experienced monkeys follow her lead.

The monkeys all spend on average five hours a day out in an area of trees, adjacent to the rescue centre, where they look for wild fruits, leaves, and insects and experiment with other foods (eggs from birds' nests and fungi, to name but two). Feeding platforms have been built high up in the trees to make sure that the young monkeys are getting enough to eat, also encouraging them not to stray to the ground or sneak back to the enclosure to look for snacks. Their keepers, two young Peruvians called Gardel and Amirio, have had to learn to climb trees and to make woolly monkey calls, communicating with the monkeys using a range of whistles and "eeolks" when it is time to return to the enclosure.

Habitation has not in any way affected the monkeys' sense of danger. The monkeys are easily able to make the distinction between people or animals that they know and those they don't trust. We have noticed that when a vulture circles overhead, Apu makes alarm calls, and then the other monkeys hide below the tree canopy. In the rainforest, harpy eagles prey on monkeys, and so this natural avoidance of big birds is a good precaution. Likwise, if one of the woollies spots a snake on the ground, the group rushes higher up the trees and protests loudly. If anything, they monkeys are over-cautious and very conservative about anything unknown or brightly colored. Generally the group stays close together, although it is not unknown for the adolescent and adult males to panic. This happened when the monkeys encountered a group of loggers making loud noises (shouting and cutting down trees). Daku separated from the group and was lost for 24 hours. You can imagine the concern of everyone, monkeys and keepers alike, calling for him through the day and night, until he returned to rejoin the group, exhausted and shaky.

Meet Toumai and Anen!

The newest arrivals at the rescue center-baby woolly monkeys named Toumai and Anan-are under one year old and won't become integrated into the bigger group until they are ready to fend for themselves. They are spending their first year being hand reared, by just one carer, so that they have the chance to feel secure. Having witnessed the violent death of her mother and survived a harsh physical journey in the hands of pet traders, Anen is very traumatized and she panics if she feels abandoned.

Each day the infants spend some time being introduced to the older monkeys. Individual monkeys vary in their attitude towards the babies; some are absolutely besotted by them, while others are gently indifferent. The male monkeys are keen to have Toumai climb up on their backs for a ride, and Apu responds protectively when he hears distress calls from either baby. Although one of the young females, Ipak, is especially affectionate with the two babies, we have not seen what might be called real adoption behavior. On one occasion Ipak enthusiastically carried Toumai high up into the branches of a tree and the abandoned him there. Luckily Gardel's climbing skills are almost a match for a woolly monkey's and Toumai was retrieved safely.

Preparing for the big move

Whilst the monkeys are bing cared for at the rescue center in Moyobamba, equally important preparation work has been underway at the Rio Mayo refuge, some 40 minutes upriver. This land comprises secondary and small remnants of primary rainforest. Although it is just a tiny fragment of forest, such is the level of deforestation and environmental degradation in the Rio Mayo valley that is has already become an important refuge for wild animals. Groups of tamarins, squirrel monkeys, night monkeys, and the extremely rare, endemic Andean titi monkey all live in the refuge. Here the monkeys can find a sanctuary from hungers and from the fires lit to clear the forest on surrounding hillsides.

Over the last five years the project has replanted some 2,000 tree seedlings, enriching the secondary forest with over 45 different species of wild fruits. Some of these trees are already producing fruits and will be a vital supplement to the monkeys' diet.

Peruvian ecology students have volunteered to help with the replanting program and with the local campaign to raise awareness about protecting primates. In the peak hunting season-March and April-they have put up posters in the regional market towns where monkey meat is sold and baby monkeys are traded as pets. They have also talked to many people in the communites surrounding the Rio Mayo refuge, asking for their cooperation in protecting the monkeys on our land.

This last month work was completed on the woolly monkeys' new housing at the refuge. They will have a huge 100m² (10,000 square foot) enclosure, with an opening out into the forest and preestablished trails to help them explore their new environment. The Ikamaperu team too will be moving and everyone is getting ready for a complete change of life: living together communally on the land and putting up with basic conditions "in the bush." They know that solidarity, imagination, and passion for their job are the best guarantee for success in this new adventure with the woollies.