Red uakari
| Red uakari | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red uakari ( Cacajao calvus ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Cacajao calvus | ||||||||||||
| ( I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , 1847) |
The red uakari or scarlet face ( Cacajao calvus ) is a species of primate from the genus of the uakaris within the sakia monkey (Pitheciidae). It is characterized by its red, hairless head and lives in northwestern South America . It lives in larger groups and feeds primarily on hard-shelled fruits.
features
Red uakaris are the largest representatives of the sakia monkeys, they reach a head body length of 54 to 57 centimeters. As with all Uakaris, the tail is shortened and measures only 14 to 19 centimeters (around a third of the body length). The weight is 2.9 to 3.5 kilograms. Their fur is long and shaggy, and its color varies from white-gray to yellowish to red-brown, depending on the subspecies. The face is hairless and colored bright red, flat and broad. The widely spaced nostrils are characteristic. The forehead can be sparsely hairy or hairless, but longer, beard-like hairs can grow on the throat.
To adapt to their specialized diet, the incisors are narrow and protrude forward. The canines are enlarged, but the molars are rather small and low-crowned. The tooth formula is I 2- C 1- P 3- M 3, so you have a total of 36 teeth.
red - red uakari,
purple - black-faced uakari ,
green - spix black- headed uakari
distribution and habitat
Red uakaris are native to the northwestern Amazon basin in South America. Their distribution area includes western Brazil , southern Colombia and eastern Peru . The habitat of these animals are tropical rainforests , they live in regions that are seasonally flooded by white water rivers , called Várzeas .
Lifestyle and diet
Red uakaris are diurnal tree dwellers. In the branches they usually move on all fours, but they can also cover greater distances by jumping. When eating, they often only hang on their hind legs, in the dry season they occasionally come to the ground.
These primates live in groups of 30 to 50, sometimes up to 100 animals. These groups consist of several males and females as well as the common offspring. Animals in human care develop a hierarchy, whether this also applies to wild Uakaris is not known. Aggressive behavior very rarely occurs between the individual group members. For the daily search for food, larger associations often split up into smaller subgroups, only to come together again in the evening (fission fusion organization). Red uakaris communicate using a series of sounds that allow subgroups to maintain contact. Mutual grooming also plays an important role in communication. The ranges of the groups are relatively large, they cover up to 600 hectares. The diet of the red uakaris consists mainly of hard-shelled fruits and unripe seeds. To a lesser extent, they also consume flowers, leaves and insects. In the rainy season they look for food in the upper layers of the trees, in the dry season they sometimes look for fallen fruits and seeds on the ground.
Reproduction
The hairless, red face serves as an indicator of the health of a red uakari. Sick animals - malaria is common - have a pale pink face and are not taken as mating partners. Births often fall in the dry season from October to November, but can also take place at other times of the year. After a gestation period of around six months, the female usually gives birth to a single young. This is initially colored gray and still has hair on its face. After around three to five months, it starts to eat solid food and is completely weaned in the second year of life. In the third year of life, the head loses its hair, at the end of this year, females can be sexually mature. In males, this takes about six years - at least in captivity. Animals in human care can live to be over 30 years old; life expectancy in the wild is unknown.
Systematics
Traditionally, the Red Uakari formed together with the Schwarzgesicht- or black Uakari the genus uakaris . In 2014, the Cacajao ouakary , first described by Johann Baptist von Spix in 1823 , which had previously been considered a subspecies of the black-faced uakari for a long time, was again classified as a separate species, so that today three Uakari species are known. Four subspecies are distinguished within the red uakari:
- Cacajao calvus calvus , the nominate form , is characterized by a whitish fur and lives in a small area in northwestern Brazil west of the mouth of the Rio Japurá into the Amazon and east of the range of C. c. rubicundus .
- Cacajao calvus ucayalii has a reddish-orange or yellow fur, this subspecies occurs in eastern Peru between the Rio Javari and the Río Ucayali .
- Cacajao calvus rubicundus has a red or red-brown fur and lives on the banks of the Amazon near the Brazilian-Colombian border region between the ranges of C. c. calvus and C. c. ucayalii .
- Cacajao calvus novaesi is characterized by an orange-yellow fur with lighter shoulders and is native to western Brazil along the right bank of the central Rio Juruá .
Danger
The main threats to the Red Uakari are habitat destruction and hunting. Due to their large roaming areas, they need large, undisturbed areas and are therefore sensitive to deforestation. Their way of life on trees near the river makes it easier to hunt from canoes. Some Indian tribes do not hunt these animals because of their human-like appearance; in other regions, such as Peru, they are hunted intensively for their meat and because their heads are sold to tourists. Sometimes young animals are also captured as pets, which is usually associated with the killing of the mother. The IUCN lists the Red Uakari as "endangered" ( vulnerable ).
Zoo situation
In Europe, the species is no longer maintained, former owners are Berlin, Frankfurt (European first breed), Halle, Hanover, Cologne, Paris, London and Twycross.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stephen F. Ferrari, Patricia G. Guedes, Wilsea MB Figueiredo-Ready & Adrian A. Barnett: Reconsidering the taxonomy of the Black-Faced Uacaris, Cacajao melanocephalus group (Mammalia: Pitheciidae), from the northern Amazon Basin. Zootaxa 3866, 3, pp. 353-370, September 2014 doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.3866.3.3
- ^ Cacajao . In: Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 3rd Edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005 ISBN 0-8018-8221-4
- ^ IUCN entry
- ↑ [1] ZTL 18.6
literature
- Thomas Geissmann : Comparative Primatology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin et al. 2003, ISBN 3-540-43645-6 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
