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| Blond Capuchin Monkey |
By: Quincy Peterson-Bullock
The biggest threat to a
wildlife species is not another wildlife species, but a specie that does not
even live in the wild. Human beings are the main reason why wildlife species
are faced with extinction. As a result of the destruction of wildlife habitats,
illegal wildlife trade, and hunting, more than half of the world's primates are
now faced with the endangerment of becoming extinct: This includes the South
American Blond Capuchin monkey. The Blond Capuchin monkey is considered
critically endangered based on the IUCN conservation scale (IUNC, “Sapajus
flavius (Blonde Capuchin)”.) This report will emphasize the life of the
endangered Blond Capuchin monkey, how extinction affects the primate’s
lifestyle, and why it is important to keep this intelligent primate from
becoming extinct.
This particular New
World monkey species is found exclusively in the tropical forests on the
Northeast coastline of Brazil. The Blond Capuchin monkey can be identified by
its golden blond fur that covers its body and white crown at the top of its
head. Blond Capuchins can grow anywhere from 1.8 kilograms to 3.0 kilograms in
size and anywhere to about 40 centimeters long. Unlike most Capuchin species,
Blond Capuchins are more likely to be found closer to the ground in their
habitat. The reason why Blond Capuchin monkeys prefer staying low to the ground
is because that where their food is. Their diet is surprisingly different than
other primates of the Capuchin family, which typically consume fruits. Blond
Capuchin diets consist of termites, roots, and
tubers. Also, Capuchin monkeys display very high intelligence when it comes to
the use of tools to obtain food inside hard shell fruits (Planet of the
Monkeys, “Blond Capuchin.”)
Despite their
intelligence, the Blond Capuchin monkey is one of the most critically
endangered species tracked by the IUCN; in fact, only about 180 of this
specific species still remain today and there is no indication of its
population increasing. (IUNC, “Sapajus flavius (Blonde Capuchin.”) The
decreasing numbers of this species is due to habitat destruction and
fragmentations, live capture for the illegal pet trade, and bush meat
(hunting). To be exact, the particular industry to blame for a huge percentage of
the endangerment of the Blond Capuchin is the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry (Ana
Gabriela Verotti, “Brazilian Sugarcane Industry”). Therefore, essentially the
Blond Capuchin is losing its home environment to sugarcane. Besides
deforestations, other factors like live capture and illegal pet trade are
becoming major issues for these primates. There is a large majority of people
who would like to have them as pets. Allegedly, the average price for a
Capuchin monkey can range from $8,000 to $10,000 based from a site that sells
Capuchin primates (Pet4you, “Monkey & Primate Infants For Sale”).
Although primates in
human captivity could maybe a possible solution for replenishing the species
population, it would also do more harm than good. According to an interview
done by Animalist News about Capuchins at the Three Ring Ranch, which is a
private non-profit exotic animal sanctuary, the zoo keeper explained that
Capuchin monkeys that were hand raised in human care is not suitable to be
introduced back into their wild environments. Human adjusted Capuchins would
not be able to survive in the wild because they would not know how to obtain
food and survive attacks, and this will results to the death of the monkey. As
of now there is no known solution to preventing the Blond Capuchin from
becoming extinct. The best possible solution is for them to go into captivity
and live in an optimized environment that mimics their natural habitat. Living
in a similar environment will allow them reproduce without the dangers of being
hunted and captured, and if their population increases, then the zoo keepers
will release them back into their natural habitat.
It is necessary to
protect the species from extinction because their existence has an impact on
the food chain, and by disrupting this natural process, it would cause a chain
of effects on other species that they hunt. For example, Blond Capuchin feasts
on termites for nutrition. Without the Blond Capuchins, the termites might
dramatically over populate and tear down all the trees, and then other animals
would not have an environment. The food chain effect is one of the prime
reasons why humans should try to preserve primates, not just the Blond
Capuchin, but all of the world's primates. A disruption in the ecosystem could
lead towards unknown catastrophe that may not favor the wild life habitats
around the world.
In conclusion, we, as
humans, have a global responsibility to respect and protect the world and
everything in it. We should care, not just in our interest, but the interest of
primates and all animals alike. As a wise Chinese philosopher once said,
“Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of
universal responsibility, not only nation to nation & human to human, but
also man to other forms of life” -Tenzin Gyatso.
Works Cited
“Sapajus flavius (Blonde
Capuchin)” Iucn.com, 26 Sept. 2016,
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136253/0
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136253/0
“Planet of the Monkeys”
Planetofthemonkeys.com, 26 Sept. 2016
http://planetofthemonkeys.com/blond-capuchin/
http://planetofthemonkeys.com/blond-capuchin/
“Brazilian Sugarcane
Industry” Ana Gabriela Verotti, 26 Sept. 2016
http://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/brazilian-sugarcane-industry
“Monkey & Primate
Infants For Sale” Pets4You.com, 26 Sept. 2016
https://www.pets4you.com/monkey-primate.html
https://www.pets4you.com/monkey-primate.html
“ Protecting Endangered
Species for Future Generations”Andrew Currie, 26 Sept. 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7MeCPfaPR0
52 comments:
I have a solution to this problem, you must slowly introduce them to situations that they would face in the wild. make them think for themselves, allow them to problem solve.
I like your initiative to help solve this problem, Terrance, but unfortunately the skills you speak of must be taught by parents (i.e. other primates). If they are not learned through the parents then the primates do not develop the necessary survival skills to exist in the wild. Furthermore, not having a territory of their own also causes them to fall victim to all sorts of issues, including conflicts with their own species.
In the fourth paragraph you said that The Blond Capuchin Monkey would not be able to survive attacks if they were released to the wild. What animal attacks this monkey the most? -Chukar Bailey
It appears that its biggest predatory threat is the jaguar.
Humans do kill off a lot of animals without actually factoring in the different perspectives to their behavior. But has been done recently to rebuild the existence of the Blond Capuchin Monkey?-Rickey Smith
I is sad to say that some people don't even respect are care about themselves so how are they going to care about animals. Firstly we all need to stop eat meat and let animals live but our selfish desire wont let us. Very interesting topic.
I don't believe going to the extreme of removing meat consumption is the answer. We, as humans, are omnivores, meaning we eat meat and vegetation, so it's biologically programmed in us to require nutrients from both food sources. What we can do is educate people about how not to be wasteful about all of our environmental resources.
I do not know specifics, but if you look through Mr. Peterson-Bullock's references I'm sure you can find the answer. :)
Aaliyah Caldwell
I agree with the first comment, try coming up with something that humans can partake in to see how serious the wild life species are. So they can see how much damage they are causing.
If humans are the reason why these poor monkeys are almost extinct then why wont they make laws against them capturing and selling them? It is proven that humans are killing their species and once they are domesticated they can no longer fend for themselves in the wild so it shouldn't be hard. I also like the idea of them living in captivity until they can reproduce in order to keep the cycle of life going for their species. This was a very interesting yet sad topic.
Laws are typically created based on social needs and desires. If a society does not feel something is important then it won't be recognized as a law. This may very well be the case here, particularly given the pressing social problems that exist in South America.
Humans need to learn to leave wild animals in their natural habitat and not try to make profit off of them. It's disgusting. There are different ways to make money without putting animals in danger.
I agreed with the author when she said, that if the Blond Capuchin Monkey the food chain will be thrown off and it will have a effect that may effect everyone in a negative way, and a lot of people don't understand that. For every decision there's a consequence . Maybe if people knew that killing off species would have a negative consequence they would be more understanding and do more to protect primates.
-Brandon Hall
In the last paragraph you say,we should have a global responsibility to respect and protect the world and everything in it, you may be right here , but i don't have anything to do with animals.
The cycle extinction is spreading rapidly, humans are getting more and more greedy. There's not really a reason to kill a monkey out of it's normal habitat. As Adriana said there are different ways to make money, the animal endangerment is not necessary
I don't understand how there aren't laws and regulations to stop the hunting and deforestation of land. Especially when it is of endangereded animals and causing animals to become endangered.
There are ways you can be globally responsible. For example, becoming more aware of what companies are involved in environmental degradation allows you to make the informed choice on whether or not you purchase products from them. You can also purchase items that are environmentally sustainable or acquired through such methods. One does not need to directly interact with the animals.
Laws and regulations only come about because people want them. Make enough of a fuss and laws can and will change. This is the primary reason for why certain laws exist and go unchanged in any country.
I think that stuff like that will continue to happen many people disagree with how it affects animals but it's not the majority of the world and so it will not make us stop to try and advance our race
$8,000 ? Let me start saving up. This is a beautiful creature and it's sickening people would eat it.All the food in the world and you want to eat a monkey...I feel as there should be a facility that could not only breed the species in a healthy effective way but also have something like a realistic wildlife situation where they can learn to defend, hunt, etc. Maybe this can happen in the future.
I don't understand why there aren't more laws in place to protect endangered animals like this beautiful animal. However, I guess laws and regulation will only help so much without more people seeing the problems and wanting to do better. We have so many beautiful creatures that are now endangered or extinct thanks to human greed and that is sad. All of these animals play their own little important roles in the world and if we kill off these animals, it changes food chains and ecosystems in general. We as humans need to do a better job of protecting these animals and taking care of the world we were given. - Shannon
I knew human beings had something to do with animals going extinct but didn't know that they were biggest threat to a wildlife species , and to know that not even other specie are the main reason and humans are is a proble. I feel like yes humans are doing somethings to help but what if they finds more ways and different ways from what they already do would be helpful in this situation.
Ainya Lomax Soc.412
Wow this was an interesting piece of information. I never even heard of Capuchin Monkeys. The fact that they eat different than other monkeys and how they are raised by humans was surprising that it's causing danger
As a animal lover I hate to read about how animals are becoming more endangered. I feel more laws should be made to protect these animals and help stop the extinction. Maybe set up cameras to catch the people that are killing and selling them as well.
I dont think the illegal wildlife trade will ever stop just because of how much money is involved. like these primates go for $8,000 just for one, and when people are paying money like this for things like this. it makes it hard for people to stop it.
After reading the article it made me think about how much humans have effected wildlife in a negative way. with that being humans have done numerous positive things for wildlife but there are still factors because of us that is causing a lot of animals to go extinct. I personally think a big factor for why extinction is on the rise is due to humans expanding in terms of cities and homes in general.
- Arthur Holloway
I don't understand why some people would pay thousands of dollars for a rare animal take it out of its natural habitat and pay even more money to try and keep up with the animal as a pet, then within a short amount of years of owning the animal it usually dies. It just shows how ignorant people can be.
I agree. If more people will take a stand then maybe the chances of the endangered species of the Capuchin will increase slowly.
It is Disturbing to know that people would want to eat an endangered animal. As humans we want to have our cake and eat it to when it come to planet earth. We want to strip it of its resources to better our living conditions but keep the environment just stable enough for us to thrive.
It is Disturbing to know that people would want to eat an endangered animal. As humans we want to have our cake and eat it to when it come to planet earth. We want to strip it of its resources to better our living conditions but keep the environment just stable enough for us to thrive.
After studying primates this last semester i found out how precious hey really are and actually how we should be trying to preserve these animals instead of harming them by trying to keep hem as pets and what not.
D.Traywick, people trying to buy these animals is apart of the problem. there are less then 300 of them left in the world, it would not be good to keep turn these wild animals into pets. they need to live in their environments
First and foremost I think The Blond Capuchin Monkeys are very cute. I think that size of the Blond Capuchins being 1.8 kilograms to 3.0 kilograms is very interesting and that they like to live closer to the ground I did not know that. If I had 8,000 to 10,000 dollars I would own one!
Ashley Jacobson
As Quincy rightfully pointed out the illegal pet trade is part of the reason why this and many other primate species are critically endangered. So while they are cute they should remain where they belong: in the wild.
With the amount of what people pay for these Blond Capuchins I believe it would be better to use that money for a safer environment for these species to live without any endangerment for the monkeys. It would make more since to me. Sometimes I wonder if people ask themselves the question anymore in life is there a difference in a want than a need?
its sad that it seem like the only solution to save them is if they go in captivity because as much as we can try to mimic there natural habitat its never going to be the same. and there going to know the difference. it made me think how would i feel if i was forced to live in a fake home and try to stay happy. its sad.
In my opinion the world we're living in is a dog eat dog world and if the Blond Capuchin Monkey can't survive on its own then they're in trouble.
That's one way to look at the situation, but as an aspiring lawyer I would hope that you would look at situations from multiple angles. I am inclined to agree with this sentiment if human intervention was not a key in the destruction of this species. Do you have a different opinion on this matter when consider how we, as humans, have greatly affected the natural order of primate species existing around the globe?
If more people will take a stand then maybe the chances of the endangered species of the Capuchin will increase slowly.
I agree we as humans are destroying the natural balance of the Blond Capuchin Monkey’s reproduction when we captivate them and remove the monkeys from its natural habitats. This is the main reason for their endangerment. I also agree with Jaeda comment if more people where too take a stand against the pet trade then maybe the Capuchin Monkey will have a chance to survive.
Great article, I just believe that its hard to find a balance between development and saving the environment. I think the best way to solve this is to really consider primates and all animals when making developmental decisions
I really love this post, but it reminds me of when we had to do this assignment and I did my whole paper on the wrong thing. After reading the post and the comments, I found out that I agree with the first comment out of all. If we show people the importance of keeping these endangered animals alive then maybe they will stop killing the animals.
All primates need to be returned to their natural habitat for many reasons, but primarily because they help garden our rain-forest and keep other living animals alive.
Jovie Black
So basically, these monkeys can dodge extinction by being handled in adult care? Or is he saying if they remain in their natural habitat they'll be better off?
By being in their natural environment undisturbed they stand a better chance of survival, but unfortunately that's not happening as disruptions to their environment are ongoing. Many people, particularly students, like to think that in human care any species is better off, but that is largely not the case and tends to be worse.
LaTroya "Trey" Jamison
Could it be, for some villages, that the people surrounding these forest are not aware of the seriousness of exist primates? Would it directly affect their villages first since they would live near the forest that is being destroyed?
Humans are forever expanding their habitat and as long as deforestation continues, the population of more and more species of animals will continue to decline if changes are not made.
i feel like its a waste of time and money to take a wild animal and try to train it as a pet. You cant have a wild animal as a trained pet, the animal is not adapted to the human life style to live in our everyday life.
Kenneth Granger
Besides evolutionary factors, I agree that humans are the main reason for some species going extinct due to industrialism.
I have never heard of the Blond Capuchin and it surprises me that they prefer to stay closer to the ground . However extinction has always been scary to me to know that animals are becoming extinct when they aren’t harming humans has always disgusted me . The buying and trading of these animals are absurd , but not surprising . This post has me truly all over the place being that I’ve never heard of them . Wow
-Jazlyn Logan
This was my first time hearing about the Blond Capuchin Monkey. Its so cute and its sad that people would eat it! like why would you want to do that.
-Kyla Thomas
This article has showed me that we need to protect the species from extinction because their existence has an impact on the food chain,and by disturbing this common procedure, it would cause a chain of impacts on different species that they chase. Great blog!
-jasmine busby
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