Brazil:
International conservation breeding programme for the Yellow-breasted Capuchin
The Yellow-breasted Capuchin (Cebus xanthosternos; photo: R. Wirth)
is one of several capuchin species of the forests of the Brazilian Atlantic
coast. All of them are critically endangered, but in different dimensions.
Only about 4 % of the Atlantic rainforests in Brazil which once covered thousands
and thousands of square kilometres are remaining today. In Bahia even only
2 % are left in which the sub-populations of the Yellow-breasted Capuchin
live in isolated and highly fragmented areas. Apart from the immense destruction
of the rain forests the species is threatened by hunting and catching. The
monkeys are favoured as a food resource for the locals as well as a pet.
Furtermore, there is another new problem: The several different capuchin
species are able to hybridise. A monkey baby may be nice and cute when it
is young, but it may become dangerous as an adult animal - thus, many
disagreeable pets are abandonned into the nearest forest. Although this
is illegal it still occurs and this increasingly threatens many populations
of the Yellow-breasted Capuchins with hybridisation.
At the beginning of the 1990's, a conservation breeding programme for the
Yellow-breasted Capuchin was founded at the Rio Primate Center with the initial
financing of ZGAP. Soon thereafter, Zoo Mulhouse (France) with
its former director Dr. Jean-Marc Lernould joined in; another nine European
zoos followed during the next years. Finally in 1992, the Brazilian Institute
for Environment and Renewable Resources (IBAMA) officially established an
International Committee for the breeding programme and conservation actions
for the Yellow-breasted Capuchin, consisting of national and international
representatives of zoos and of researchers who are active in species
conservation. Due to his merits for the rescue of this species Dr. Lernould
(who is also the co-founder and chairman of ZGAP's French sister organisation
CEPA) was appointed vice president of this committee.
There was a lack of information about the exact distribution of the remaining
populations und about the biology of the Yellow-breasted Capuchin for a long
time so that the effectiveness of the conservation actions could only be
increased in a limited way. Research and conservation actions get expanded
year for year now. Besides CEPA and ZGAP the now over a dozen zoos which
take part in the conservation breeding programme for the Yellow-breasted
Capuchin contribute money on an annual basis to finance the actions in Bahia
which are coordinated by Dr. Lernould. Special attention is paid to
the populations in the protected areas Conduru State Park and Una Biological
Reserve. The good news is that the population is bigger than thought
at the start of the project - at the moment about 3.000 individuals.
The next steps for the conservation of the Yellow-breasted Capuchin in
the long run should include the following actions: Firstly, more habitat
which is privately owned by farmes should be declared as protected areas.
Through the transformation of farmland into protected areas the farmers will
be granted tax concessions by the Brazilian government. Secondly, the locals
and the national institutions should become more sensibilised for the protection
of the animals. Furthermore, additional conservation actions for other
endangered capuchin species of the Atlantic rain forest will be initiated,
especially for the Blond Capuchin (Cebus flavius) which has been
rediscovered after 300 (!) years.
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