Woolly monkeys are large, attractive and widespread primates found throughout many parts of the Amazon basin. It is only in the last twenty-five years or so that long-term studies of woollies in their forest habitat have been successful; they have not generally been successfully kept in captivity. But now, especially because of their size, these creatures are pressed on all sides by bush meat hunters and forest fragmentation. Their future is becoming critically precarious, and the editors feel that it is time to showcase these animals with a full book.

The editors draw together a number of recent woolly monkey studies from three Amazonian countries, including five taxa of woolly monkeys, four of which have recently been reclassified without using new biological criteria as species rather than subspecies (Groves, 2001, 2005; Rylands & Mittermeier, 2009). This volume provides a diversity of studies by well-known researchers and advanced students on a wide range of subjects using newly generated data, including a criticism of the recent taxonomic changes. The varied information contained within The Woolly Monkey: Behavior, Ecology, Systematics, and Captive Research will help readers understand these handsome animals and will, we hope, energize them to contribute to their conservation.

Thomas R. Defler, Ph.D., a native English speaker but adopted Colombian, has studied primates for forty years, six years in the United States and thirty-four years in the field in Colombia. Most of his years in Colombia have been spent in eastern Colombian wilderness until his move to the National University campus in Bogotá seven years ago. He founded two research stations in the Colombian Amazon, both of which are still functioning, and he has trained many young Colombians in field techniques. Defler has 112 publications, including three authored books, one edited book and has just finished writing two more yet-unpublishedbooks.

Pablo Stevenson, Ph.D., a Colombian native, has studied primates in the field for twenty-two years. Although he has investigated many species of primates, he is by far the most experienced primatologist in the world for research on Lagothrix, which he first began to study in 1988. Stevenson has over 100 publications, many of which involve or showcase Lagothrix. Pablo has trained many young Colombian primatologists as professor at Los Andes University. He has also published a book on the fruits of the Río Duda region, as well as edited two books on Colombian primates.

Inhalt
Part I: Introduction.- Chapter 1. Introduction: Studying Woolly Monkeys.- Part II: Systematics and Taxonomy.- Chapter 2. Coat Color is not an Indicator of Subspecies Identity in Colombian Woolly Monkeys.- Chapter 3. Colombian Lagothrix: Analysis of their Phenotypes and Taxonomy.- Part III: Ex Situ Research.- Chapter 4. Behavior and Husbandry of a Captive Group of Woolly Monkeys: A Case Study.- Chapter 5. Clinical Experience and Diseases of the Woolly Monkey.- Chapter 6. Recent Advances in Woolly Monkey Nutrition.- Chapter 7. Effects of Housing Conditions and Diet on the Behavior of Captive Woolly Monkeys.- Part IV. In Situ Ecology and Behavior.- Chapter 8. Life History, Behavior and Development of Wild Immature Lowland Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix poeppigii) in Amazonian Ecuador.- Chapter 9. Seed Dispersal by Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix lagothricha) at Caparu Biological Station, Colombia: Quantitative Description and Qualitative Analysis.- Chapter 10. Ranging Behavior, Daily Path Lengths, Diet and Habitat USe of Yellow Tailed Woolly Monkeys (Oreonax flavicauda) at La Esperanza, Peru.- Chapter 11.- Vocal Communication in Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha lugens) at Cueva de los Guacharos National Park, Colombia.- Chapter 12. Potential Determinants of the Abundance of Wolly Monkeys in Neotropical Forests.- Chapter 13. Behavior Ecology and Inter-individual Distance of Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix lagothricha) in Rainforest Fragment in Colombia.- Part V. Conservation.- 14. Notes on the Behavior of Captive and Released Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix lagothricha): Reintroduction as a Conservation Strategy in Colombian Southern Amazon.- 15. Population Viability Analysis of Woolly Monkeys in Western Amazonia.- 16. Yellow Tailed Woolly Monkey (Oreonax flavicauda): Conservation Status, Anthropogenic Threats and Conservation Initiatives.