annual report - The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund

AZUERO SPIDER MONkEy
Ateles geoffroyi ssp. azuerensis
Critically Endangered
Panama
$15,000
ANNUAL REPORT 2010 PAGE 32
Red List Justification
The subspecies has undergone a decline
exceeding 80% over the past three
generations (45 years) due to a high rate
of habitat loss and fragmentation within its
range.
AZUERO SPIDER MONkEy
Ateles geoffroyi ssp. azuerensis
Searching for primates
PROJECT DETAILS:
Assess population of the Coiba and Azuero
howling monkeys, as well as the Azuero
spider monkey and the Panamanian whitethroated
capuchin on the Azuero Peninsula
and Coiba Island. The fieldwork consists of
strip transects surveys, road count surveys,
triangulation surveys, and conservation
activities such as student internships and
various community awareness activities.
ThREE OF ThE MOST ENDANGERED PRIMATES IN PANAMA
ARE ThE AZUERO hOWLING MONkEy, AZUERO SPIDER
MONkEy, AND ThE WhITE-ThROATED CAPUChIN. PERhAPS
ThE MOST UNIqUE POPULATION ExISTS ON COIBA
ISLAND – A FORMER PENAL COLONy DECLARED A WORLD
hERITAGE SITE IN 2005. IT IS CLEAR ThAT ALL PRIMATE
SPECIES IN ThIS AREA OF PANAMA ARE IN NEED OF
FOCUSED RESEARCh, AS WELL AS IMMEDIATE AND LASTING
PROTECTION. All Photos: Pedro Mendez-Carvajal
RESULTS:
All primate groups still alive in the same
areas where they were found in 2001.
New groups were found in south Azuero,
including Azuero spider monkey, howling
monkeys and capuchins. Baseline
population data were collected on Coiba
Island and a first bachelor’s thesis was
completed by a Panamanian student.
Another student from the University of
Panama is to start his thesis on the social
behavior and distribution of the Azuero
howling and spider monkeys.
HOW THE MOHAMED
BIN ZAYED SPECIES
CONSERVATION FUND
HAS HELPED
“Thanks to the Fund we have been able
to improve the knowledge of these little
understood species, identify strategic areas
for our conservation activities and detect
local problems all of which are important
to creating a realistic conservation plan for
these primates in Panama.”
“I have had the support to develop our
organization and to increase the interest
of other Panamanians in conservation
and primatology. This has had a positive
impact on the Panamanian Environmental
Authority which is now interested in
supporting additional scientific research
which will lead more people into primate
research in Panama.”
Pedro Mendez-Carvajal
Fundación Pro-Conservación de los
Primates Panameños
ANNUAL REPORT 2010 PAGE 33