by Karin Leperi Pezo  ·  Editorial  · Latin America

Expect to find macaws, monkeys, capibara, pink dolphins, piranha, anaconda and so much more. Over 1,000 species are recorded in this area, with 600 species of birds and 10 species of monkeys, making it prime territory for primates. New World monkeys tend to be a favorite for many travelers and is the most requested wildlife for jungle sightings. For those who don’t know, New World Monkeys generally have flatter noses with sideways-facing nostrils, and some have a prehensile tail as a utilitarian adaptation. Old World monkeys have narrow noses with downward-facing nostrils, as do humans.

If it’s monkeys you want to see, here are seven species you will likely encounter during your jungle and river forays.

Pygmy Marmoset (Callithrix pygmaea)
This cute primate is the smallest true monkey not just in the Amazonian rainforest, but also the world. Endemic to South America in the western part of the Amazon Basin, they also go by names such as Pocket Monkey, Little Lion, and Dwarf Monkey.
Their preferred habitat is lowland, tropical evergreen forests with river floodplains. They generally do not enter the top of the canopy or descend to the ground, but rather occupy a vertical range between these extremes. It is this area where they seek tree gum and sap, their primary diet. When that is not available, their diet also includes butterflies, insects, plants, and fruits.

Their long tail is like that of a squirrel; it helps them to keep their balance in trees and while jumping about in the tree limbs. Unique features include being able to rotate their head 180 degrees and the fact that they have claws instead of fingernails. They also walk on all four limbs.

Highly social primates and usually monogamous, pygmy marmosets enjoy performing mutual grooming and can be found usually sleeping at night huddled together.
Pygmy marmosets have an intricate system of communication with different calls used during feeding, foraging, and traveling.

Squirrel Monkey (Genus Saimiri)
Squirrel monkeys are known as the arboreal “goats of the jungle.” This omnivore has a diet primarily of flowers, fruit, leaves, nuts, seeds, insects, arachnids, and invertebrates. Just about anything.

A sociable monkey that is diurnal, they live in the canopy in large groups of sometimes up to 500 individuals. Within these groups are female-dominated troops of 45-75 monkeys.

The squirrel monkey became famous when back in 1959, the United States launched the first of two animals into space and recovered them alive. One of them was a squirrel monkey born in Iquitos, Peru. Known as Miss Baker, she was born in 1957 and died on November 29, 1984.

Owl Monkey (Aotus trivirgatus)
The Owl Monkey is the only true nocturnal New World Monkey. Also known as the Night monkey, they have monochromatic vision which helps them with contrast to differentiate visual cues at night. Their big brown eyes allow for more light and so it is easier for them to see in the dark. With round heads, large eyes, and furry bodies, these adorably affectionate monkeys live in lowland forests and dense tropical rainforests. Living in Central and South America, they are an Endangered species.
Arboreal, they spend their life in tropical trees searching for their diet of flowers, insects, nectar, leaves, moths, beetles, spiders and large orthopterans. The male and female are similar in size and can range from 12- 16.5” and weight between 32-34 ounces.

Monogamous for life, these tiny tropical tree-dwellers are known to be very affectionate with their mates.

Coppery Titi (Plecturocebus cupreus)
Small, slim, and with a bushy tail used for balance, the Coppery titi monkeys live in lowland Amazon rainforests that are seasonally flooded. Diurnal, arboreal, and territorial, their diet consists of fruit and insects. Both sexes weight about two pounds.
They are known to live in family groups, with adult pairs that are monogamous. Pairs exhibit behaviors that include mate guarding as well as coordinated behaviors between partners. A unique behavior is that when they first meet, they will smell each other’s faces.

Couples often intertwine their tells when they are resting. When they groom each other, their posturing indicates mutual affection for one another.

Brown Capuchin (Sapajus paella)
The capuchin family of New World monkeys is the most intelligent and adaptable of all species. Living in troops made up of 8-14 members containing more females than males, they are diurnal, arboreal, territorial yet sociable.

The brown capuchin is also known as the tufted capuchin and the black-capped capuchin. A South American species found around the Amazon Basin, they inhabit rainforests and seasonally inundated forests. Slender with long limbs, they have black tufts of fur above the ears. They are the only capuchin to carry their tail in a tight coil when walking. Since the tail is partly prehensile, it helps them grab on to branches as they climb.

Their omnivore diet is varied and opportunistic: They consume leaves, flowers, fruit, nuts, seeds, pitch, woody tissue, sugarcane, frogs, reptiles, birds, insects, bats, and even primates.

Their relatively long lifespan of 45 years also makes them attractive as pet. These are also the monkeys most associated with organ grinders.

Red Howler (Alouatta seniculus)
Howler monkeys are some of the largest monkeys in the New World. And Red howlers are the biggest of the howler monkeys. Living up to their name, they are one of the loudest animals on land as their voice can carry up to three miles. Their dawn chorus of loud, repetitive booms is performed mostly by males – to make their presence known and prevent confrontations over territory encroachments.

Red howler monkeys are selective eaters. As herbivores, they favor tender young leaves from their arboreal perches. This is supplemented with flowers, fruit, and nuts.
The red howlers are polgynous, where one male mates with many females. As for courtship, a red howler female invites courtship by sticking out her tongue at a male.
Saddleback tamarin (Saguinus fuscicallis)

Slightly larger than their close relative the Pygmy marmoset, the Saddleback tamarin is a squirrel-sized new world monkey that lives in the lower strata of tropical rainforests, inhabiting primary as well as secondary forests.

Rarely straying from their arboreal home, diurnal Saddlebacks share the same habitat as the Pygmy marmoset. While their diet consists of fruit, small animals, frogs, nectar, and tree gum, they are not physically equipped to extract tree gum like the Pygmy marmoset. As a result, they wait for their smaller relative to gouge tree holes for gum and then aggressively exploit the hole for their own needs.

❖ BAJATRAVELER® TAKEAWAY
Ten monkey species in one stretch of rainforest is not a curiosity — it’s a credential. The Peruvian Amazon rewards travelers who go looking for specifics, not just “wildlife” in the abstract: a marmoset small enough to perch on a thumb, a howler whose call carries for miles, a tamarin that survives by raiding a smaller cousin’s sapped tree holes. This is the kind of trip that turns casual nature lovers into serious naturalists, and it asks for a guide who knows the difference between a titi and a tamarin at fifty feet.

Plan Your Amazon Wildlife Encounter
River-based lodges along the Peruvian Amazon offer guided dawn and dusk wildlife forays where sightings of pygmy marmosets, squirrel monkeys, red howlers, and more are most active. Visit during the dry season (May–October) for easier trail access and more concentrated wildlife along receding waterways.
→ Plan your Peruvian Amazon journey at BajaTraveler.com