Keeping the Pampa del burro biodiversity hotspot safe
Conservation focus:
Yellow-tailed woolly monkey
Scientific name:
Lagothrix (oreonax) flavicauda
Scientific classification:
Mammals, Primates, Atelidae
IUCN status:
EDGE status:
CR (critically endangered)
Score 3.7, Rank 94 / 585 EDGE mammals
Threatened evolutionary history:
3 million years
Conservation priority by EDGE rank / ecosystem
Why it matters
This is an extension of the conservation programme for the Yellow-tailed woolly monkey, one of the largest neotropical monkeys and one of the least known primates - a top 100 EDGE mammal and the result of 3 million years of independent evolution. The few remaining populations live in a global hotspot of biodiversity, which itself must be preserved. After decades of decline, this well thought-out program involving the local farmers protects one of the few, if not the only, habitats in which the numbers of this highly endangered primate species are increasing again.
Project fast facts
Focal species' population trend
Decreasing
Local conservation attention
Moderate
Range / Project area
Ecological role
The Pampa del Burro Private Conservation Area, owned by the Campesino Community of Yambrasbamba, forms part of a hotspot of biodiversity and is home to many endemic and threatened species, including one of the world’s 25 most threatened primate species, the endemic, critically endangered Yellow-tailed Wolly Monkey.
Threats
Continued growth of human populations, encroachment of development projects, extractive industry and hunting, which has led to an estimated ~90% decrease of the umbrella species, the Peruvian Yellow-tailed Wolly Monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda, mono choro de cola amarilla).
Grant
First awarded:
$ 8,260
18 October 2024
Score 3.7, Rank 94 / 585 EDGE mammals
Programme owner
Yambrasbamba; S. Diego Global; Boston University
Programme contact
Dr. Sam Shanee, Projects Director, Neotropical Primate Conservation
Project location
Perú
Yambrasbamba, Peru
Addressing the need: Project goals
Fund park guards/conservation promoters to protect the Pampa del Burro Private Conservation Area and El Toro field station. All participants will be from communities surrounding the areas.
Train park guards in data collection and mapping to monitor wildlife during patrols, and identify threats to the integrity of the two areas. This will include use of data entry sheets, GPS, cameras and other field equipment through hands on experience and theoretical classes.
Reduce hunting and un-sustainable land use change through education and community engagement and enforcement.
Continue implementation of a permanent field station to provide employment from conservation and tourism in the community, and provide study opportunities to Peruvian and international students and researchers.
Use the training and lessons learned in this area as templates for training of park guards and field guides at all other community protected areas we support.
In all our projects NPC (Neotropical Primate Conservation) use monkeys as flagship species to spearhead conservation efforts, but our work doesn’t only benefit primates. In order for primates to survive in the wild they need a functioning ecosystem, which means our efforts also go towards protecting all the other sympatric plant and animal species as well as their habitats and other resources they rely on. We achieve this directly through land protection, reforestation and scientific research on flora and fauna. We also work significantly with local communities in environmental education, social development and capacity building for natural resource management.
Conservation actions
Short-term outcomes of this project will include the continued absence of hunting of the species and deforestation at the El Toro field site, and reduction or elimination of these activities in the Pampa del Burro Private Conservation Area, which also holds populations of the species and others of conservation concern. This will be achieved through enforcement and outreach and will ensure that the local population of L. flavicauda continues to increase, possibly the only site where it is growing. The outreach and education work also goes beyond the borders of these areas, reaching members of the 5 local communities in the vicinity and others beyond, which will have a positive impact on the species on the landscape level. As with previous studies, the continued and expanded monitoring of this and other species provides quantifiable evidence of our conservation success, allowing for replication at other sites, a process which is ongoing through our wider projects.
Thanks to the elimination of hunting through voluntary conservation agreements and reduced deforestation, the local population of the focal species has increased substantially. We carried out surveys at the site in 2008/2009, 2012/2013 and 2023/2024. With group density increasing from 9.3/km² in the first survey, to 14.5 and 36.8/km² in the subsequent surveys, respectively. These increases have been due to birth and survival of young animals, and not groups migrating into the area due to habitat loss, proving the applicability and effectiveness of our community conservation efforts for the species.
The concept of community conservation in Peru has led to many other communities registering forests on their lands as protected areas for diverse reasons, including protection of the Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey, many of which apply activities focused on the same key areas of hunting reduction and habitat protection through outreach and education.
