Red howler monkey

(Alouatta seniculus )

Individuals

The group consisted of 3 females and one male with various backgrounds. The first female arrived in 2015 and in 2018 she got released initially. In 2020 she came back to the centre by herself after a disappearance of a couple of weeks. By that time there were two youngsters who had been together for a couple of months and both arrived as babies. They first made their recovery and by the time the first female showed up again, they were ready to be introduced to her and into life in the wild. In 2024 the male got added to the group after spending 2 months in rehabilitation. All females were only a couple of months old when they arrived. The male was a young adult when he arrived.

Housing and care

The 4 red howler monkeys were housed in an enclosure of ...x...x.... Caretakers entered the cage three times a day to feed and clean them. They were normally on a diet of various fruits, vegetables and a wide variety of leaves. Also, they got daily enrichments which varied every day.

Release site

The release site is located within the wildlife rescue centre of Merazonia in Ecuador. This is an area of 100 hectares (250 acres). Merazonia is located between two national parks (Llanganates National Park and Sangay National Park). The rescue centre is located at an altitude of 1300m above sea level. The site is composed of 60% secondary forest and 40% primary forest. Fruiting trees were found in the area, furthermore there are several sites where the monkeys can get clay from.

The group was released from their original cage. Different feeders were placed around the cage to support them with food in their initial release stage. Trap camera footage is used to see what other wildlife is present around the centre.

Pre-release adaptations

The female who got released initially already knew important information about the area. She probably knew about which trees fruit at what time of the year and she would be able to locate them. Furthermore, the same feeder (which is located a couple of meters away from the cage) was used again to supplement them during their initial stages of release. This also allowed the team to introduce the youngsters to the female and carry out observations on how the introduction was going.

Post-release

The monkeys have been followed for multiple weeks to observe how they are getting along together, where they are finding fruits and to gain more insight into their behaviour and range of their territory. The monkeys can still occasionally be seen around the centre. Their original feeder outside the cage is still in place to supplement them with food when needed.

The male had lost the females originally after 4 days of being released. The team caught him and took him back to his enclosure where the three girls were waiting. After introducing them to each other again in the enclosure, the enclosure was opened up again and they were together for 2 months. After that, the male and one of the females gone missing. The two other females gave birth to healthy babies and are still seen occasionally.

Things you would have done differently

As it was a soft release, it was already expected that they would come back. This has happened and is still happening, but they are always returning in a good condition and are not seeking human contact.

One thing that would have been nice is to fit at least on of them with a GPS collar so we could see exactly where they are going. However, this is very hard with howlers and at the time the team was not happy with the available options for tracking.