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Animal Info - Black Uakari
(Other Names: Acarai-Bico, Bicó, Black-backed Uakari, Black-headed Uakari, Cacajao, Caruiri, Cauiri, Charú, Charurikaya, Charuruka, Charutika, Cháu, Chucuto, Chucuzo, Colimocho, Ëh, Fide, Golden-headed Uakari, Humboldt's Black-headed Uacari, Ichaca, Ichacha, Karrubirri, Mico Colimocho, Nüestiama, Nüestiamini, Ouacari Tête Noire, Piconturu, Pitiontouro, Puoghu, Schwarzkopf Uacari, Uacari de Costas Douradas, Uacarí-Preto)
Cacajao melanocephalus
Contents
1.
Profile
(
Picture
)
2.
Tidbits
3.
Status and Trends
(
IUCN Status
,
Countries Where Currently Found
,
Distribution
,
Threats and Reasons
for Decline
)
4.
Data on Biology and Ecology
(
Weight
,
Habitat
,
Birth Season
,
Birth Rate
,
Diet
,
Behavior
,
Social Organization
,
Density and Range
, )
5.
References
Profile
Pictures:
Black Uakari #1
(13 Kb JPEG);
Black Uakari #2
(35 Kb JPEG)
The black uakari weighs a little less than 3 kg (6.6 lb) and has a head and body length less than 0.5 m (1.6'). There are two
subspecies
of black uakari. The golden-backed
subspecies
(
Cacajao melanocephalus
ouakari
) is richly colored with a saddle and back of golden-yellow that contrasts with its darker chestnut-red sides and underparts. Its arms are dark-brown or blackish as are the lower parts of its legs from the knee down. The flanks are chestnut red, this extending to the short tail as well. The black-backed
subspecies
(
C. m.
melanocephalus
) has none of the golden-yellow on its back, being primarily blackish from the head to the mid-back and reddish brown or tawny at mid-back, not contrasting with the lower back or thighs.
The black uakari seems to prefer habitat along small to medium-sized
black water
streams and lakes, including
black water
seasonally flooded forests (
igapo
) and the inland unflooded ("terra firme") forests adjoining such
igapo
. The majority of its diet is made up of immature seeds. It also eats fruit pulp, leaves and
arthropods
. The black uakari is
arboreal
and
diurnal
. It
forages
at all levels from the surface of the water in a flooded forest up to the
canopy
and also descends to the ground to consume seedlings. Groups consist of multiple adult males and females, juveniles, and infants. Large groups of more than 100 black uakaris, some perhaps approaching 200 animals, have been seen. But these large groups result from the temporary fusion of several smaller groups. More long-lasting groups consist of 20 - 70 animals. Black uakaris are very social. Members of a group groom each other frequently. Males are very tolerant of infants, which they carefully guard from danger.
The black uakari occurs in the upper Amazon Basin north of the Amazon River in southeastern
Colombia
, southern
Venezuela
, and adjacent
Brazil
. In some areas, such as parts of
Colombia
, hunting is a threat.
Tidbits
*** Uakaris are the only monkeys in the Western Hemisphere with a very short tail, less than 1/3 of the head and body length. This is unusual for an
arboreal
animal.
*** When black uakaris are feeding over the flooded forest, if they feed long enough in one spot they attract many fish, which gather to take advantage of the fruits and seeds dropped by the monkeys. These concentrations of fish then attract
Amazon River dolphins
which feed on the fish.
(
Defler 2004
)
Status and Trends
-
1960's:
Endangered
-
1970's - 1980's:
Vulnerable
-
1994:
Endangered
-
1996: Lower Risk:
Least Concern
-
2003 - 2004: Not Listed
Countries Where the Black Uakari Is Currently Found:
2004: Occurs in
Brazil
,
Colombia
and
Venezuela
(
Defler 2004
).
Distribution:
The black uakari occurs in the upper Amazon Basin north of the Amazon River in southeastern
Colombia
, southern
Venezuela
, and adjacent
Brazil
. More specifically, its range in
Venezuela
includes the upper Rio Orinoco - Rio Casiquiare basin; in
Colombia
, from the Rio Guaviare south to the Rio Apaporis in the Departments of Guainia, Guaviare and Vaupes; and in
Brazil
, the Rio Negro-upper Rio Solimoes basin from the north bank of the Rio Japura-Solimoes west to the Rio Araca-Negro.
(
Hershkovitz 1987
,
Emmons & Feer 1997
)
Distribution Map #1
(18 Kb)
(
InfoNatura
)
Distribution Map #2
(261 Kb JPEG)
(
Inst. Ciên. Biol.
)
Threats and Reasons for Decline:
In some areas, such as parts of
Colombia
, hunting is a threat.
Data on Biology and Ecology
The black uakari weighs about 2.5 - 3 kg (5.5 - 6.6 lb) with the male weighing slightly more than the female. The head and body length is 0.3 - 0.5 m (1.0 - 1.6') with an average for females of 0.39 m (1.28') (n = 21) and for males of 0.41 m (1.34') (n = 17). The short tail varies around 0.15 m (0.49') for females and 0.17 m (0.56') for males.
(
Defler 2004
)
Habitat:
The black uakari seems to prefer habitat along small to medium-sized
black water
streams and lakes, including
black water
seasonally flooded forests (
igapo
) and the inland unflooded ("terra firme") forests adjoining such
igapo
. They have a patchy distribution in mature lowland rainforest.
(
Emmons & Feer 1997
,
Defler 2004
)
Birth Season:
There is a birth season around March - April on the lower Apaporis River of
Colombia
, with some births apparently occurring outside of this season
(
Defler 2004
)
.
Birth Rate:
Female black uakaris apparently give birth about once every 2 years. One infant is born.
(
Defler 2004
)
Diet:
The black uakari is a specialized seed predator. The majority of its diet is made up of immature seeds, which the animal extracts with its sharp canines, opening up a fruit and splitting the seed using its
incisors
. It supplements its diet with fruit pulp, leaves and
arthropods
. One study estimated a diet of 91 % fruit (with the majority being consumed for their seeds), 3 % leafy material (young leaves, mature leaves,
bromeliads
), 4 % flowers and 2 % insects.
(
Defler 2004
)
The black uakari often licks rain-soaked leaves and descends trunks and branches over flooded forest to drink water directly from the water’s surface. It also drinks water from tree holes and
bromeliads
, dipping its hand into the water and drinking from its hand and fur.
(
Defler 2004
)
Behavior:
The black uakari is
arboreal
and
diurnal
. It
forages
at all levels from the surface of the water in a flooded forest upwards to the
canopy
and also descends to the ground to consume seedlings.
The distance traveled in one day averages 2.3 - 3 km (1.4 - 1.9 mi) (range: 0.05 - 5 km (0.031 - 3.1 mi))
In one study in
Brazil
, it was estimated that the daily activity pattern of the black uakari included 22 % rest, 27 % travel, 20 % feeding and 31 %
foraging
.
The black uakari is predominantly
quadrupedal
- walking, running and leaping with great frequency. Its leaps across gaps between branches are spectacular and cat-like and some cover vertical spaces of 5 - 10 m (16 - 33') and horizontal space of up to 5 m (16').
The black uakari has been seen to sleep in exposed positions over the flooded forest, sometimes only 10 - 15 m (33 - 49‘) over the water on a sturdy branch. In unflooded areas it sleeps much higher up and less exposed at 25 - 30 m (82 - 98') above the ground.
(
Defler 2004
)
Social Organization:
Large groups of more than 100 black uakaris, some perhaps approaching 200 animals, have been seen. But these large groups result from the temporary fusion of several smaller groups. More long-lasting groups consist of 20 - 70 animals. When food is very scarce, these groups have even been seen to fission into small subgroups, and occasionally only 1 or 2 are seen moving separately from a larger group. Groups consist of multiple adult males and females, juveniles, and infants.
(
Defler 2004
)
Black uakaris are very social. Members of a group groom each other frequently. Males are very tolerant of infants, which they carefully guard from danger. Any pair of young animals playing together has an adult male sitting nearby, on guard in case of any threat.
(
Defler 2004
)
Density and Range:
Density
Estimates of population density for the black uakari vary depending on conditions. During certain times of the year when groups concentrate their activities in the flooded forest, this species seems common in those locations and population density is high; e.g. 12 individuals/sq km (31 individuals/sq mi). The density of a group calculated over its home range may reach 7 individuals/sq km (18 individuals/sq mi). Finally, when calculated over a wide area of the region in which it is found, the density of the black uakari is low - less than 1 individual/sq km (2.6 individuals/sq mi).
(
Defler 2004
)
Range
Black uakari groups consisting of 20 - 70 animals have home ranges of 500 - 1000 hectares (1250 - 2500 acres)
(
Defler 2004
)
.
References
Animalzoom
,
Barnett & Celeste da Cunha 1991
,
Burton & Pearson 1987
,
Defler 2004
,
Emmons & Feer 1997
,
Hershkovitz 1987
,
InfoNatura
,
Inst. Ciên. Biol.
,
IUCN 1967
,
IUCN 1994
,
IUCN 1996
,
IUCN 2000
,
Nowak & Paradiso 1983
,
Nowak 1999
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Last modified: September 9, 2006;
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Cacajao
, the saki monkey, is a South American or New World monkey. South American monkeys or platyrrhines comprise one of the two infraorders (Platyrrhini and Catarrhini) of anthropoid primates. They live exclusively in South and Central America, but their fossil distribution includes the Greater Antilles (MacPhee and Horovitz, 2002). The fossil record of platyrrhines extends back to the Deseadan or late Oligocene of Bolivia where they are represented by the genus
Branisella
(Takai and Anaya, 1996). Their presence in the New World is generally considered to be the result of a single dispersal event (Fleagle, 1999) near the end of the Eocene from the Old World, where all known basal anthropoids are found (Beard, 2002). Because South America was not connected with North America or Africa at the time, this dispersal must have involved rafting across some portion of the Atlantic.
Once in the New World, platyrrhines diverged into a variety of forms ranging in size from the smallest living anthropoid (
Cebuella
) at ~110 grams to the howler monkeys (
Alouatta
) that reach 11 kg (Fleagle, 1999). This diverse radiation of primates includes 78 living species (Fleagle, 1999) in 16 genera, one of which is the only living nocturnal anthropoid,
Aotus
. Their diets and locomotor adaptations are diverse, though most are at least partly frugivorous and none are primarily terrestrial.
Although the adaptations of different genera are reflected in their craniodental anatomy, platyrrhines in general retain a cranial morphology more similar to primitive anthropoids from the Eocene and Oligocene of Egypt such as
Catopithecus
,
Parapithecus
, and
Aegyptopithecus
than do the living Old World anthropoids (Fleagle, 1999; Simons, 2001). The research for which these CT data were collected indicates that this primitive anthropoid cranial morphology included considerable cranial pneumatization via the paranasal sinuses.
Cacajao melanocephalus
and
C. calvus
, the black-bearded and bald Uakaris are the largest species of the Pithecinae, a subfamily that includes this genus,
Pithecia
, and
Chiropotes
. They exhibit slight sexual dimorphism, males and females averaging 3,160g and 2,710g respectively in
C. melanocephalus
, and 3,450g and 2,880g respectively in
C. calvus
(Fleagle, 1999). Uakaris live in flooded forests where they subsist on a diet that includes fruits with hard outer coverings, which they open with their distinctive tusk-like canines.
About the Species
This female specimen, the skull of a juvenile (M2 full to premolars erupting), was collected in Venezuela on the 11 April 1967. It was made available to The University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by
Dr. James Rossie
of Stony Brook University, courtesy of the
Smithsonian Institution Division of Mammals
. Scanning was funded by an NSF dissertation improvement grant to Mr. Rossie (#0100825). Funding for image processing was provided by a National Science Foundation
Digital Libraries Initiative
grant to
Dr. Timothy Rowe
of The University of Texas at Austin.
|
lateral view |
|
ventral view |
About this Specimen
This specimen was scanned by
Matthew Colbert
on 18 January 2002 along the coronal axis for a total of 472 slices. Each slice is 0.1754 mm thick, with an interslice spacing of 0.1754 mm and a field of reconstruction of 75.0 mm.
About the
Scan
Literature
Beard, K. C. 2002. Basal anthropoids. In (W. C. Hartwig, Ed) The Primate Fossil Record, pp. 133-149. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Fleagle, J. G. 1999. Primate Adaptation and Evolution. San Diego, Academic Press.
MacPhee, R. D. E. and I. Horovitz. 2002. Extinct Quaternary platyrrhines of the Greater Antilles and Brazil. In (W. C. Hartwig, Ed) The Primate Fossil Record, pp. 189-200. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Simons, E. L. 2001.
The cranium of
Parapithecus grangeri
, and Egyptian Oligocene anthropoidean primate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 98:7892-7897.
Takai, M. and F. Anaya. 1996.
New specimens of the oldest fossil platyrrhine,
Branisella boliviana
, from Salla, Bolivia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 99:301-317.
Links
Cacajao melanocephalus
on the
Primate Info Net
(University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Literature
& Links
Face slice movie:
Additional
Imagery 
|
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|
To cite this page:
Dr. James Rossie, 2002, "Cacajao melanocephalus" (On-line), Digital Morphology. Accessed April 19, 2024 at http://digimorph.org/specimens/Cacajao_melanocephalus/406427/.
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Updated: 2024-04-19 23:44:05 gmt
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