THE YELLOW TAILED WOOLY

MONKEY.
The yellow-tailed woolly monkey, mochue, common woolly, yellow-
tailed woolly, Peruvian woolly, pacorrunto, quillirruntu or
quillarruntu (Oreonax flavicauda) is a species of simiform primate in
the Atelidae family, the only one in the Oreonax genus. This species
is endemic to the Andes of Peru and is one of the 25 most
endangered primates in the world.

Taxonomy

Previously it was classified in the genus Lagotrix, together with the woolly monkeys. In
2001, Groves placed L. flavicauda in a different genus, Oreonax, with only one species
Oreonax flavicauda. However, in a review published in 2008, he suggests that this
classification is wrong and there is no merit in placing the species outside of Lagothrix.

Discovery and Rediscovery of the Yellow-

tailed Woolly
In 1812, Alexander von Humboldt first described the yellow-tailed
woolly, under the name Simia flavicauda, on the basis of skins he had
seen 10 years earlier. Humboldt never saw a live animal, nor did he
preserve a specimen. For more than 110 years there were few isolated
reports from professional collectors.
In 1974 Russel Mittermeier, a well-known American primatologist,
Hernando de Macedo, director of the Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy of
the Natural History Museum of Lima, and the expedition member Anthony Luscombe
undertook the search for the yellow-tailed woolly in the vicinity of Chachapoyas,
Rodríguez de Mendoza. and Pedro Ruiz Gallo (Amazonas department), in northeastern
Peru.
While they were still on the road to Chachapoyas, they met a hunter who provided them
with skins and skulls of this species and they traveled with him to the cloud forests
where he had found these animals. Finally, one day before returning to Lima, they
found a juvenile specimen, which was a soldier's pet.
For the first time we had the opportunity to see a live specimen of Oreonax flavicauda.
This animal, a young male, lived and grew up in the Museum of Natural History, under
the care of De Macedo. The rediscovery attracted the attention of the national and
international press, as well as conservation organizations that saw the need to know the
status of this species soon. The information gathered by the rediscoverers suggested that
the species was threatened by the destruction of its habitat and, especially at that time,
by hunting.

Habitat and distribution

Since 1978, Mariella Leo Luna, a biologist graduated from the La
Molina National Agrarian University, has traveled the steep and
remote slopes of various areas of the cloud forest in northern Peru in
order to learn more about the habitat and distribution of this species
and to identify areas that present better conditions to be protected.
Their studies confirmed and clarified the appreciations of the
rediscoverers and were later supplemented by information from other
researchers (mainly Parker and Barkley, Shanee
and Shanee, and Buckinham and Shanee).
Until 2010, this species was known to occur
mainly in Amazonas and San Martín, extending
to the small portion of forests of this type found
in La Libertad and perhaps to the forests
bordering San Martín with Loreto. Its habitat
includes montane forests and cloud forests
between 1,700 and 2,700 meters above sea level,
mostly on steep slopes.

This species is found in the forests adjacent to the Velo de Plata Waterfall in the district
of Uchiza in the San Martín region. The identification work began in 2013. In 2014, its
location was defined and in 2015, biologists confirmed the existence of this primate in
the forests of Uchiza.