User:JihaneS/Azuero Howler Monkey

Distribution and Habitat
Azuero Howler Monkey are notably present in the southern and the eastern regions of the Azuero Peninsula, on different sea level elevation varies from 0-1500. They were seen on diverse patches of Forest such as Anacardium excelsum, Bursera simaruba, Cecropia peltata, Ceiba pentandra,Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Ficus spp., Mangifera indica, Inga vera, Pachira, and Spondias mombin.

The Azuero howler monkey is common in Riparian forest and is often sighted moving through gallery forest, living fences and patches of forest of the natural reserves of Azuero

Anatomy
Howler Monkey Use their airorynchous face and their vertical nuchal plane, to allow the rotation of the foramen magnum, for easier maneuvering when cropping leaves. Their expanded gonial angles of the mandible are due to an enlarged Hyoid, the flaring of the gonial helps provide maximum gape, and the expansion of the gonial help the Howler Monkey chew.

Vision
Like all Howler Monkeys, the Alouatta genus is the only genus in the Catarrhini family that has a routine trichromatic vision, where both males and females have trichromatic vision, contrary to other Catarrhini polymorphism, where only the males are trichromatic vision, and 66% of females are heterozygous.

This trichromatic vision helps Howler monkeys identify red-green colors in leaves, as ‘‘red-shifted’’ leaves are normally the indicator of younger more tender leaves, with easy access to nutrition, which makes it the objective of all Alouatta.

Behavior's
The Azuero Howler Monkey is a non-monogamous, in a multi-male multi-female in groups from 6 to 15 Monkey, infant are solely raised by their mothers, cradled up to 22 months, contrary to the interaction of juveniles with males which is very minimal.

Adult male and female have very little social interaction amongst them, except the occasional cooperative howling that was noticed between adult males.

Conservation
Azuero Howler Monkey has the ability to adapt to different conditions of habitat, on both high or low-ground forests. They were announced endangered since 2020 by The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with a decreasing population, and a high possibility of it shrinking by 50% within the nest three generations.

The most common threats that this specie is facing in the Azuero Peninsula, are >>>>>> by human activity, such as deforestation, agriculture, urbanism, but mostly the lack of knowledge on the importance of primates and the value of the fauna and flora. Some Steps were taken by The Fundación Pro-Conservación de los Primates Panameños (FCPP) along with some local communities, to educate the peninsula habitants, on the value of the eco-system and how human feeding monkeys could eventually alter their foraging behaviors', and consequently degrade the health of the forest system in the Peninsula