Primate Conservation No. 19
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ISSN 0898-6207 PRIMATE CONSERVATION The Journal of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group Number 19 2003 Primate Conservation is produced and circulated courtesy of the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Founda- tion, the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, the Los Angeles Zoo, and the Department of Anatomical Sciences of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. ISSN 0898-6207 Abbreviated title: Primate Conserv. June 2003 Front cover. Although Sri Lankan red lorises are far from cryptic, this flowering bush makes a scenic hiding place for this adult female Loris tardigradus tardigradus from Pitigala, Galle District. Photograph by K. A. I. Nekaris. A Word from the Chairman This, the 19th issue of Primate Conservation, has suffered a long delay in publication, arising to some extent from the increasingly significant role of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group newsletters (African Primates, Asian Primates, Lemur News and Neotropical Primates), which are themselves evolving into journals in their own right, but also related to uncertainty as to its future. Its production is informal, and each issue requires funding in direct competition with the newsletters. Primate Conservation has played a key role in allowing for the publication of highly significant conservation-related research, most especially distribution and status surveys, which were difficult to publish elsewhere, and with the added advantage of it being distributed for free. Today, however, the more formal subscription journals, notably the International Journal of Primatology, the official journal of the International Primatological Society (IPS), increasingly publish conservation-related research (note IJPs earmarking of the aye-aye with its “Vivamus” sign). Folia Primatologica (journal of the European Federation of Primatology), the American Journal of Primatology (American Society of Primatologists) and IJP, have made commendable efforts to increase accessibility to researchers and field workers by reducing subscriptions and linking them to the membership of the respective societies. Primate Conservation has its costs (its distribution worldwide is significantly more expensive than its actual printing), but it is, however, no easy decision to let a journal such as this lapse, and we have avoided taking it! We believe it still has a strong role to play as a venue for the lengthier articles and, for example, with extra funding provided, in allowing for the publication of color images, as is the case here in the article by Robert Sussman and his colleagues on their survey of the range and habitats of ringtailed lemurs in southern Madagascar. Longer monographs, workshop results and symposium proceedings can be accommodated by Primate Conservation, but not so easily the PSG newsletters. That said, this issue has some excellent articles. Five are from the Neotropics, all of them dealing with highly threatened species – two concern status surveys (Trinidad and Costa Rica), one an evaluation of the status of Colombian primates, and the last discussing preliminary attempts to translocate black lion tamarin, and an evaluation of its potential in the management of the few and isolated populations remaining. The Madagascar section is given over to the remarkably detailed survey of Lemur catta mentioned above. For Africa, two articles deal with gorillas (aspects of coprophagy and the implications for tourism and field research, and a second on the status and distribution of the Cross River gorilla in Nigeria and Cameroon), and a third gives an overview of the primates of a little known country, Guinea-Bissau. Lastly the Asian section includes articles on the status of pig-tailed macaques in India and Assamese macaques in Nepal, a review of the taxonomy, distributions and status of lorises in Sri Lanka, and some observations on the status of the Nilgiri langur in the Silent Valley National Park in the Western Ghats, India. We sincerely thank the authors for their contributions and, for many, most especially their patience and understanding considering the delay in publishing their studies. Russell A. Mittermeier Chair – IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group 1 2 3 Table of Contents Neotropical Region New Data on the Distribution and Abundance of Saimiri oerstedii citrinellus ......................................................................... 5 Claudine Sierra, I. Jiménez, M. Altrichter, M. Fernández, G. Gómez, J. González, C. Hernández, H. Herrera, B. Jiménez, H. López-Arévalo, J. Millán, G. Mora, and E. Tabilo Conservation Priorities for Colombian Primates ..................................................................................................................... 10 Thomas R. Defler, José Vicente Rodríguez-M., and Jorge I. Hernández-Camacho Distribution and Conservation Status of the Primates of Trinidad ........................................................................................ 19 Kimberley A. Phillips and C. L. Abercrombie Translocation as a Metapopulation Management Tool for the Black Lion Tamarin, Leontopithecus chrysopygus......................................................................................................................................................... 23 Emília Patrícia Medici, Cláudio B. Valladares-Pádua, Anthony B. Rylands, and Cristiana Saddy Martins Madagascar A Survey of the Habitat of Lemur catta in Southwestern and Southern Madagascar........................................................... 32 Robert W. Sussman, Glen M. Green, Ingrid Porton, Ony L. Andrianasolondraibe, and Joelisoa Ratsirarson Africa Coprophagy and Intestinal Parasites: Implications to Human-habituated Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) of the Virunga Mountains and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest......................................................... 58 Thaddeus K. Graczyk and Michael R. Cranfield The Cross River Gorilla: The Most Endangered Gorilla Subspecies ..................................................................................... 65 Esteban E. Sarmiento Primates of Guinea-Bissau, West Africa: Distribution and Conservation Status.................................................................. 73 Spartaco Gippoliti and Giacomo Dell’Omo 2 3 Asia Distribution and Demography of the Nilgiri Langur (Trachypithecus johnii) in Silent Valley National Park and Adjacent Areas, Kerala, India.................................................................................................................... 78 Gigi K. Joseph and K. K. Ramachandran Pilot Study and Conservation Status of the Slender Loris (Loris tardigradus and L. lydekkerianus) in Sri Lanka.................................................................................................................................................................................. 83 K. Anne-Isola Nekaris and Jayantha Jayewardene The Pig-tailed Macaque (Macaca nemestrina) in India - Status and Conservation............................................................... 91 Anwaruddin Choudhury Assamese Macaques (Macaca assamensis) in Nepal ................................................................................................................. 99 Mukesh Kumar Chalise Regional Newsletters.........................................................................................................................108 Instructions to Contributors ....................................................................................................109 4 5 Primate Conservation 2003 (19): 5-9 New Data on the Distribution and Abundance of Saimiri oerstedii citrinellus Claudine Sierra, I. Jiménez, M. Altrichter, M. Fernández, G. Gómez, J. González, C. Hernández, H. Herrera, B. Jiménez, H. López-Arévalo, J. Millán, G. Mora and E. Tabilo Regional Wildlife Management Program (PRMVS), National University Heredia, Costa Rica Introduction in the central area of the squirrel monkey’s total distribution range (Figs. 1 and 2). The Central American squirrel monkey, Saimiri oerste- dii (Reinhardt, 1872), found in Costa Rica and Panama, is Study area represented by two geographically isolated subspecies: S. o. oerstedii and S. o. citrinellus (Thomas, 1904) (see Hershko- The study area was in the Costa Rican Central and South vitz 1984). The latter is endemic to Costa Rica and listed by Pacific lowlands, from 0 to 350 m above sea level, between IUCN (2002) as “Critically Endangered” (assessed using the the western margins of Ríos Parrita and Naranjo (Figs. 1 and IUCN [1994] criteria) (Hilton-Taylor 2002). The last, opti- 2). The center and 35% of the range of S. o. citrinellus lies mistic (sic) estimate of the population of S. o. citrinellus was within this area, it includes Manuel Antonio National Park of 1,500 individuals (Boinski et al. 1998). (MANP) reported to hold the single largest population of this The northeastern limit of the range of S. o. citrinel- primate (Boinski 1987; Wong 1990; Arauz 1993). The annual lus is marked by the Herradura (9°40’N, 84°35’W) and mean temperature is 26°C and the precipitation approxi- Dota Mountains (9°37’N, 84°35’W). The southern limit is mately 3000 mm per year (Coen 1991). MANP (683 ha) is marked by the Río Grande de Térraba (8°25´N, 84°25´W) the only National Park in the area (Figs. 1 and 2). (Arauz 1993) (Fig. 1). This is also the historical distribution, The original forest cover was very humid tropical for- although the habitat is now extremely fragmented (Alfaro est, humid tropical forest, and transition to premontane 1987).