The bearded sakis, or cuxiús, are five or six species of

New World monkey New World monkeys are the five families of primates that are found in the tropical regions of Mexico, Central and South America: Callitrichidae, Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae, and Atelidae. The five families are ranked together as the Ceboi ...

s, classified in the genus ''Chiropotes''. They live in the eastern and central

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, ranging through southern

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

and northern and central

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The species are entirely

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

, their distributions being separated by major rivers. Bearded sakis differ from the closely related saki monkeys of the genus '' Pithecia'' by a pronounced beard, a tuft of hair that extends from its jaw, down its throat to the top of its chest, and is strongly pronounced particularly in the males. The tail is long and hairy, and is used for balance and not grasping. Bearded sakis reach from in size and a weight from . Like many New World monkeys, bearded sakis are diurnal and

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

. They inhabit

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

s, usually in the crowns of tree. They move on all four by the branches, spending most of the day searching for food. At the night they sleep clasped to thicker branches, never spending successive nights in the same tree. Bearded sakis live together in groups of approximately 18 to 30 animals. Within the group they communicate with bird-like twitter and high whistles. Sometimes they mingle with other

primates Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and lorisids; and the haplorhines, which include tarsiers and simians ( monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 ...

such as capuchin and

squirrel monkey Squirrel monkeys are New World monkeys of the genus ''Saimiri''. ''Saimiri'' is the only genus in the subfamily Saimiriinae. The name of the genus is of Tupi origin (''sai-mirím'' or ''çai-mbirín'', with ''sai'' meaning 'monkey' and ''mirím' ...

s. Fruits form the main part of the diet of the bearded sakis, but they also eat nuts, buds, leaves, insects and small

vertebrates Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

. Once a year (usually in early autumn or late summer) the female bears a single offspring after a 5-month gestation. After about three months it begins to explore its environment independently and on it is briefly cured. Bearded sakis reach full maturity at 4 years of age. Their life expectancy is approximately 15 years. Bearded sakis are highly sensitive to hunting and

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

. Consequently, two of the five species recognized by

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

(they do not recognize ''C. israelita'', but do recognize ''C. sagulatus'') are considered at least vulnerable, with ''C. satanas'' being

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

Classification

Chiropotes albinasus White nosed beard saki

Until recently, only two species were recognized in this genus, but ''C. israelita'' was re-validated in 2003 (having long been considered a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''Chiropotes''), where it – based on differences in colour of pelage,

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is discerned by de ...

, and

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, ...

analysis – also was recommended treating ''C. chiropotes'' and ''C. utahickae'' as species separate from ''C. satanas''. The

note the taxonomic confusion, but lists ''C. sagulatus'' as a valid species, with ''C. israelita'' as a synonym. * Genus ''Chiropotes'' ** Black bearded saki, ''Chiropotes satanas'' ** Red-backed bearded saki, ''Chiropotes chiropotes'' **

Brown-backed bearded saki The brown-backed bearded saki (''Chiropotes israelita'') is one of five species of bearded saki, a type of New World monkey. It is endemic to the Amazon in north-western Brazil (north of the Rio Negro and west of the Branco River) and southern ...

, ''Chiropotes israelita'' **

Uta Hick's bearded saki Uta Hick's bearded saki (''Chiropotes utahicki'') is an endangered species of bearded saki, a type of New World monkey. It is endemic to Brazil, where restricted to the Amazon between the Xingu and Tocantins Rivers. It was formerly treated as a ...

, ''Chiropotes utahicki'' **

White-nosed saki The white-nosed saki (''Chiropotes albinasus'') is a species of bearded saki, a type of New World monkey, endemic to the south-central Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Both its scientific and common name were caused by the authors working from dead ...

, ''Chiropotes albinasus'' ** Reddish-brown bearded saki, ''Chiropotes sagulatus''

References

External links

Primate Info Net ''Chiropotes'' Factsheets
{{Taxonbar, from=Q809594 Sakis and uakaris Taxa named by René Lesson