Rare Monkey Adapting to Habitat Change in Bolivia

Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team

Date: March 21, 2022 3:35 pm

Olalla’s titi monkey (Plecturocebus olallae) is seen in Bolivia where they are adapting to the fragmentation of their habitat

Photo Credit: Jesús Martínez

A team of scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Oxford Brookes University have completed a study showing that a rare species of monkey is adapting to the fragmentation of its forest habitat.

Their results have been published in the International Journal of Primatology. Olalla’s titi monkey (Plecturocebus olallae) will follow an energy–area minimizing strategy that means it can live in a forest-savanna habitat.

During the dry season as food becomes scarce the primates will shift to alternative foods such as seeds, lichen and fungi. They will then reduce their activity levels to reduce energy needs so they do not need to seek out fruit and other high quality foods.

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Despite the evidence of this adaptability the researchers note this does not negate the need to conserve their habitat. This represents a significant threat to the species.

Said Rob Wallace, Director of WCS’s Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape Program, and a co-author of the study: “The study illustrates the relevance of understanding primate ecological flexibility in response to food reductions to the development of conservation actions, especially in the light of increasing forest degradation and loss in the study region.”

WCS Bolivia were awarded the National Biodiversity Science Prize in December 2021 for their work over the last two decades studying and developing conservation actions for the endemic titi monkeys in the Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape. 

Learn more about Primates here – Primate Fact File | The Animal Facts

Learn more about the Wildlife Conservation Society on their website – Wildlife Conservation Society

Olalla’s titi monkey (Plecturocebus olallae) is seen in Bolivia where they are adapting to the fragmentation of their habitat

Photo Credit: Jesús Martínez