Cacajao calvus (I. Geoffroy, 1847)

Voss, Robert S. & Fleck, David W., 2011, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 1: Primates, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (351), pp. 1-81 : 41-43

Cacajao calvus (I. Geoffroy, 1847)

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL 5 25): Nuevo San Juan (AMNH 272795; MUSM 11114, 11115, 13300), Orosa (AMNH 73716–73720), Quebrada Esperanza (FMNH 88810–88825).

UNVOUCHERED OBSERVATIONS: Jenaro Herrera ( Aquino, 1978), Quebrada Blanco ( Bartecki and Heymann, 1987), Reserva Comunal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo ( Puertas and Bodmer, 1993), Río Tapiche ( Bennett et al., 2001), Río Yavarí (left bank below Angamos; Salovaara et al., 2003), Río Yavarí-Mirím ( Salovaara et al., 2003), Tapiche ( Jorge and Velazco, 2006). For additional records, see Heymann and Aquino (2010).

IDENTIFICATION: The genus Cacajao was reviewed by Hershkovitz (1987b), who identified the specimens from Orosa and Quebrada Esperanza as C. calvus ucayalii Thomas, 1928 . Our new material from Nuevo San Juan is morphologically indistinguishable from the Orosa and Quebrada Esperanza series. However, in none of the material that we examined (including specimens identified as C. c. ucayalii by Hershkovitz) is the dorsal surface of the tail blackish as he described it (op. cit.: 34); instead, the dorsal surface of the tail is densely covered with long reddish fur like that on the middle and lower back. External and craniodental measurement data from specimens collected in the Yavarí- Ucayali interfluve are summarized in table 13. Most specimens are unaccompanied by weights, but three adult females ( AMNH 272794; MUSM 11114, 13300) from Nuevo San Juan weighed 2.9, 3.0, and 3.6 kg.

ETHNOBIOLOGY: The Matses call the red uakari monkey senta, a term that is not etymologically analyzable. Some also call it bëşhuidkid piu, but most Matses do not consider this a true synonym. Unlike most other large monkeys, no subtypes of uakari monkey are recognized by any of the Matses.

There are no taboos against eating uakari monkeys (other than the general rule that a hunter should not eat or touch monkey intestines, or eat any of their first kill of a particular species). However, Matses who come from places where there are no uakari monkeys (e.g., along the Chobayacu), do not eat them saying ‘‘My father did not eat those,’’ as their justification. Many Matses that live outside the range of uakari monkeys are not familiar with them, and it is likely that, as the Matses moved around in the past, they did not continuously live in areas inhabited by uakaris. This may explain the lack of linguistic attention and the absence of uakari monkeys in Matses myths. The canines of large male uakari monkeys are used to make men’s tooth necklaces.

The Matses do not imitate uakari monkey calls. Encountering uakari monkeys is relatively rare, so the Matses make no special effort to find them. Upon hearing their calls or rustling of branches, a Matses hunter will approach the troop and start shooting when he sees a large animal. When animals from a hunted troop see humans, they slowly move toward the upper canopy and/or move slowly away. When they hear a firearm report, they move away faster, but even then they do not seem to be too scared. Unlike spider monkeys, uakaris do not split up when they run away from hunters, but run in the same direction. Therefore, a good, solitary Matses hunter can easily kill several animals at a single encounter with a troop. They are packed for carrying and cooked in the same way as woolly and spider monkeys.

MATSES NATURAL HISTORY: Uakari monkeys are strikingly red, as if they had painted themselves with annatto dye. They have red body fur and bald, bright red heads and faces. Even the young are red. Their faces are swollen, as if they had been shot in the eye with an arrow. Their tails are markedly short, in contrast to all other monkeys. They can’t grasp with their tails; instead, they eat fruits while hanging by their feet. In appearance they are most similar to saki monkeys, particularly with respect to their long pelage and bald foreheads. With respect to other characteristics, they are like woolly monkeys: their calls are similar to woolly monkeys’, large males are strong like large male woolly monkeys, and their canines are like woolly monkeys’ [and therefore desirable for making necklaces]. They have a strong smell, both in their fur and their meat, but they cannot be detected by hunters by smelling because they do not leave their odor.

Uakari monkeys do not occur in all of Matses territory. They are not found east of the Gálvez, on the Brazilian side of the lower Yavarí, or along the upper reaches of the Chobayacu [a left-bank tributary of the Yaquerana]. Uakari monkeys are found in primary upland and floodplain forest. They are frequently found in swamp-palm [ Mauritia flexuosa ] swamps and in flooded forest. After feeding for a while in floodplain forest, a uakari monkey troop may travel very far into upland forest. Sometimes one goes for many months without seeing any uakari monkeys, and then they appear again. They use mostly the middle canopy layer, lower than spider and howler monkeys, but they may climb higher when they see people, or when they find fruit there. They seldom descend to the ground. They call out saying ‘‘ kakaka kakaka kakaka.’’

Uakari monkeys are found in huge troops [.100 individuals, according to some Matses who can count], with many females carrying young on their backs. They travel as a group, making much noise rustling the branches. In flooded forest they drop dead branches into the water. They like to stay together. They may split up to find fruit, and rejoin to eat together when a large amount of fruit is found. They sleep near each other in the branches of dicot trees. When they are not hunted, they ignore humans, or come down closer to the ground to look at them. Even troops that are hunted are not very scared of humans.

Uakari monkeys eat mostly dicot fruits. They eat many different kinds of sweet dicot fruits. These include wesnid dëbiate [ Anacardium giganteum (Anacardiaceae) ], këku [ Couma macrocarpa (Apocynaceae) ], diden këku [ Parahancornia peruviana (Apocynaceae) ], machishte [ Rhigospira quadrangularis and? Mucoa duckei (Apocynaceae) ], ichibin [ Matisia sp. and Eriotheca sp. (Bombacaceae) ], mamuin [ Rheedia longifolia (Guttiferae) ], okodo mabis [undetermined sp. (Guttiferae)], moste [ Hymenaea spp. (Leguminosae) ], tankada [ Parkia igneiflora , P. multijuga , and Pithecellobium auriculatum (Leguminosae) ], şhannëd [? Brosimum (Moraceae) ], bin [ Castilla (Moraceae) ], dadain [ Clarisia racemosa (Moraceae) ], piuşh bëchi [ Helicostylis tomentosa and H. elegans (Moraceae) ], kuşhu tëbin [ Naucleopsis mello-barretoi and N. ternstroemiiflora (Moraceae) ], şhankuin [ Pourouma spp. (Moraceae) ], bata [ Pseudolmedia and Maquira spp. (Moraceae) ], poşhodi [ Passiflora nitida (Passifloraceae) ], mabis mabiskid [ Chrysophyllum prieurii (Sapotaceae) ], kose [ Manilkara bidentata (Sapotaceae) ], and taëpa [undetermined]. They bite the fruits, and if they are unripe they throw them away. They come to the edges of rivers to eat legume pods: mannan tsipuis [ Inga spp. and? Pithecellobium (Leguminosae) ] and achu inkuente [ Inga spp. (Leguminosae) ]. They also eat fruits of a few types of palms, most remarkably, the endosperm of unripe swamp-palm [ Mauritia flexuosa ] fruits. They also eat the mesocarp of swamp-palm and isan [ Oenocarpus bataua ] fruits. They also eat some insects and a few leaf buds. Their diet is similar to that of woolly monkeys.

Tables

TABLE 13 External and Craniodental Measurements (mm) of Cacajao calvus from the Yavarí-Ucayali Interfluve

	Males a	Females b
HBL	457 (426–465) 7	427 ± 14 (405–447) 11
LT	160 (145–180) 7	148 ± 8 (136–158) 11
HF	149 (144–152) 7	142 ± 5 (133–147) 11
Ear	30 (29–31) 7	30 ± 2 (28–33) 11
CIL	84.1 ± 2.1 (80.9–87.5) 10	78.3 ± 2.3 (74.4–82.0) 13
OB	52.5 (49.4–56.3) 8	48.3 ± 1.7 (46.0–51.0) 12
POC	43.3 (41.9–45.1) 8	41.6 ± 1.5 (39.6–44.2) 12
ZB	68.8 (64.1–71.9) 7	61.6 ± 2.4 (58.3–65.0) 12
BB	53.7 (51.7–55.4) 8	52.9 ± 2.0 (50.0–56.0) 12
PPL	40.3 ± 1.2 (38.4–42.5) 10	36.2 ± 1.9 (33.2–39.6) 13
LMT	28.5 ± 0.8 (27.5–29.8) 10	27.1 ± 0.5 (26.5–28.0) 13
BM1	5.0 ± 0.1 (4.9–5.2) 10	5.0 ± 0.2 (4.7–5.5) 13
M1–M1	27.7 (27.2–28.6) 8	26.3 ± 0.6 (25.5–27.7) 12
I2–I2	13.6 (12.8–14.4) 5	13.5 ± 0.4 (12.9–14.6) 12

a Summary statistics (mean plus or minus one standard deviation [for N $ 10], observed range in parentheses, and sample size) for measurements of AMNH 73716–73718; FMNH 88813–88818, 88821.

b Summary statistics (mean plus or minus one standard deviation, observed range in parentheses, and sample size) for measurements of AMNH 73719, 73720, 272795; MUSM 13300; FMNH 88810–88812, 88819, 88820, 88822–88825.