Researcher Celebrates 40 Years of Protecting Rare Brazilian Monkeys

2023-07-05

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  • Karen Strier is an American primatologist.
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  • It has been 40 years since she started studying Muriqui monkeys in Brazil.
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  • At the start, she was working on an advanced degree in anthropology at Harvard University.
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  • She continues to study the animals today.
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  • Muriquis are the largest monkeys in the Americas.
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  • Strier first started studying them in 1983 in Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state.
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  • At the time, there were only about 50 of them in a large land area 200 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean.
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  • The monkeys were losing their habitat, or living place, high up in the trees.
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  • Humans were cutting down the trees so they could sell their fruit and wood.
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  • As a result, the monkeys could only be found in a small area of preserved forest.
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  • In the 1980s, many researchers centered their studies on monkeys and other primates such as gorillas in Africa and Asia.
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  • Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall were known for their studies of mountain gorillas and chimpanzees at the time.
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  • Those women said the animals lived in a male-dominated society. Fighting was common.
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  • One male gorilla would fight another to keep control over the group or take a leadership position.
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  • Males who lost the fights would be sent away from the group.
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  • But in Brazil, the Muriquis seemed peaceful.
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  • Strier said the male and female monkeys were the same size -about 2 meters long and around 15 kilograms.
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  • Males lived close to each other and did not fight.
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  • The monkeys were friendly with others in the group.
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  • In some cases, the females left their living groups in search of a mate.
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  • "I love them. They're beautiful animals," Strier said.
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  • Strier said the Muriquis showed researchers that not all primates lived the same way.
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  • "I think (they) helped open that door to understanding better some of this diversity," she said.
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  • She does her research in the 950-hectare Feliciano Miguel Abdala reserve.
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  • The area is about 500 kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro.
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  • In the time she has followed the monkeys, their population has grown to over 230.
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  • The females can only have babies once every three years, so growth is slow.
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  • Russell Mittermeier is a primatologist with the environmental group Re:wild.
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  • He is who first introduced Strier to the monkeys.
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  • He said not many studies last for 40 years and are of such high quality.
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  • Strier is now working to create protected areas in southeastern Brazil where the monkeys can get around safely.
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  • That means making sure sections of forest are preserved.
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  • She wants this to happen so the population can grow larger and so the monkeys do not disappear if there is a sickness.
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  • Several years ago, she said, an outbreak of yellow fever killed about 100 monkeys over a period of five years.
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  • Researchers are also looking for ways to encourage mating among the monkeys.
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  • In 2020, a relocation program moved some females into a protected area where there were only two males.
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  • The effort paid off. A baby was born. Once there are 12 monkeys in the family group, they will be released into the wild.
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  • At a recent celebration of her work, Strier told the story of losing so many monkeys to yellow fever.
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  • She said the once noisy forest became quiet in a short time because so many monkeys died.
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  • Strier told the gathering of primatologists, environmentalists and monkey-lovers that she is always worried her life's work could be wiped out by another sickness.
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  • She called the monkeys "fragile," and added, "We're not done."
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  • I'm Dan Friedell.