PRIMATES OF PERU

The Amazonian forests of Peru extend from the eastern Cordillera of the Andes in the west to the Brazilian border in the east, and from the border with Ecuador and Colombia in the north to the Bolivian border in the southeast. With their huge diversity of species, many of which are still unknown to man, they constitute an invaluable natural heritage, together with the forests of the northwestern Pacific coast of Peru, close to the Ecuadorian border.

Primates are one of the components of the rich and diverse fauna of these forests. Their human-like appearance, their agility and dexterity make them the "masters" of the forest who walk and jump around in the trees. This book focuses on these "four-handed" creatures, and we hope that it serves to increase the knowledge about them and to understand their role in the Amazonian ecosystem. We also hope that this compilation contributes to the dissemination of taxonomic and systematic studies which are sometimes limited by the difficult access to specific literature and to specimens which are necessary for comparative studies.

This document by no means pretends to be exhaustive. On the contrary, we are well aware of the many gaps in our knowledge. Examples of such gaps are the distribution, taxonomy and the actual status of several species which still have not been clarified. Consequently, we do not exaggerate if we state that many more years of exploration and research will be necessary to elucidate these and other unknown aspects of primatology.

Finally, we hope that this document will be of great interest to conservationists, and that they might contribute to the dissemination of the ideas that we have tried to express in this book. Our ultimate goal is the protection and conservation of the primates, a renewable natural resource of enormous scientific and economic value inhabiting the tropical forests of Peru. They are part of our natural heritage, but still little understood by us who we are living in these forests. Preventing their extinction depends ultimately on our conservationist awareness and motivation.

THE AUTHORS