Sunday 30 November
2008, San José, Costa
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Congo and White Faced
Monkeys Repopulate Santa Rosa National Park
San Ramon - La
Fortuna Road Closed
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Congo and White Faced
Monkeys Repopulate Santa Rosa National Park
(Infocom) — According to
scientific studies,
every day more and more
congo and white faced
monkeys are repopulating
the Santa Rosa National
Park, located in the
Guanacaste province.
Counts directed by the
investigator Linda
Fedigan, from the
University of Calgary
(Canada) indicate that,
as years go by, there
are more primate
specimens living in the
forests of this
Guanacaste zone.
The white headed or
white faced monkey is
black in color except
for the head and
shoulders. The males can
weigh between 2.3 and
3.5 kilograms, the
females are a little
smaller.
This primate is the only
representative from the
cebus genus in Central
America. They are
diurnal and live above
the tree tops, even
though they also can be
seen foraging the ground
of the forests or
beaches looking for
water and food.
The investigation
indicated that while in
1972 they counted 85
congo monkeys and 300
white faced monkeys,
these numbers have been
constantly increasing to
the point that last year
they counted 620 congos
and 740 white faced
monkeys.
Para Fedigan says the
increase is a direct
consequence of the
protection of the zone.
Three species of monkeys
live in the Santa Rosa
National Park: the
congos (also known as
howlers), the white
faced monkeys (or
capuchin) and the spider
monkeys (or colorados).
The census carried out
by the scientist
concentrated on the
congo monkeys and the
white faced monkeys.
Even though the spider
monkey also lives there,
they travel so fast
through the forest that
it is difficult to count
them using traditional
methods, which consist
of finding a group and
then counting them.
Even though the white
faced monkey is not in
danger of being extinct,
it is like the other
species and is being
threatened by
deforestation and
hunting. The majority of
the primates of the new
world are easy to
domesticate, the reason
that they are captured
to be used as pets.
The female white faced
monkeys have their young
each year or two and the
little one gets its
independence to move
around at about five or
six months old and
reaches sexual maturity
at 3 years old.
The white faced monkey
is omnivorous and
because of this feeds on
fruits, insects, worms,
reptiles, and
amphibians. It is one of
the species that is
distributed the most in
the national territory;
you can find them in
almost all conservation
areas in the Pacific
coast as well as the
Atlantic and is
considered one of the
most intelligent monkeys
in the Occidental
Hemisphere.
The congo monkey has a
coloration that goes
from bright black to
reddish brown. They are
easy to find in the
forest because of their
loud howling, their big
head, and heavy and
compact body.
They can reach 60 to 62
centimeters in size and
can weigh from 7 to 11
kilograms. Its tail is
long and prehensile with
a bare pad at the lower
part near the point. Its
diet consists of a great
variety of fruits and
soft tree leaves. Their
preferred leaves are
from the higueron trees.
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