| How Are We Doing? The Current Conservation Status of Brazilian Pitheciine Taxa Silva Júnior, J.S., M.A. de Souza & A.L. Albernaz We evaluated the current conservation status of the 11 species of specialist seed-eating monkey found in the Brazilian Amazon: Cacajao calvus, C. melanocephalus, Pithecia albicans, P. irrorata, P. monacchus, P. pithecia, Chiropotes albinasus, C. chiropotes, C. sagulatus, C. satanas and C. utahickae. Based on information from recent publications, we digitalized updated maps of species distributions. Conservation status was evaluated through gap analysis and incorporated current data on protected areas (both strictly protected and sustainable use reserves) and indigenous reserves in the Brazilian Amazon. Most species are currently included within at least five protected areas larger than 50,000 hectares. The exception is Chiropotes utahickae, which is included only in one strictly protected area and one indigenous reserve. To ensure the conservation of Chiropotes utahickae new protected areas would need to be established within its geographic range. In terms of numbers of reserves (and assuming adequate levels of enforcement), most species would appear to have viable conservation status. However, it is not certain that 50,000-hectare reserves are adequate for maintaining viable populations. The next steps should be to investigate the minimum reserve size necessary to preserve each species and the conservation effectiveness of existing reserves. Return to programme |