Southern Muriqui
Conservation Status: Critically Endangered
Tracks featuring this species:
’DeNature’, Martyn Ware and Gabriel Ware
The Southern muriqui (Brachyteles arachnoides) is a species of woolly spider monkey, which is now found only in specific fragmented areas of Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest, with around 1,000 individuals remaining in the wild. Woolly spider monkeys have long limbs and prehensile tails, and are particularly agile among the trees. There is a bare patch of skin on the underside of the tip of the tail that acts as a gripping pad, helping their stability, and they have other adaptations for efficient movement among the trees such as hook-like hands with no opposable thumbs. This is critically endangered as a result of habitat destruction, hunting pressures, and historic population declines.
Photo Credit: Miguelrangeljr (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Climate connections
Low numbers of the Southern muriqui makes it especially vulnerable to climate change impacts in the future, which is expected to change the distribution area of many Atlantic forest primates by 2100. This tropical forest plays an important role in mitigating climate change in the region. According to WWF, one hectare of forest in the Upper Paraná ecoregion can store an average of 223.5 tons of carbon. Protecting the Southern muriqui’s habitat and the biodiversity of the Atlantic forest as a whole - through actions such as ending deforestation, building canopy bridges, establishing friendly agro-ecosystems, and monitoring infrastructure projects - therefore also helps to tackle climate change.
