Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Spider Monkey Alert

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CARACAS, Nov 25 2003 (IPS) - The variegated spider monkey (Ateles hybridus) is in critical danger due to reduced habitat, says the update of the Red List of Endangered Species 2003, of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). But Venezuelan researchers question the scope of the habitat measurements. The spider monkey lives in Colombia and Venezuela, and is one of the largest of the Americas.

In Venezuela it is found in the northwestern region and south of the Orinoco River. But Roger Pérez, an expert from the Central University's Tropical Zoology Institute, told Tierramérica that new studies found the Ateles belzebuth hybridus inhabiting the forests of the northwestern Sierra de Perijá, bordering Colombia, and in Guatopo, a section of the coastal range.

Pérez said the IUCN reports could reflect threats in the coastal range caused by the urban and agricultural expansion, but such is not the case of Perijá.

A source from the governmental agency Profauna told Tierramérica that “some international reports are extended to an entire species when the warning should apply to a specific population of” a certain animal.