Coiba Island Howler
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The Coiba Island howler (''Alouatta coibensis'') is a type of
howler monkey Howler monkeys (genus ''Alouatta'', monotypic in subfamily Alouattinae) are the most widespread primate genus in the Neotropical realm, Neotropics and are among the largest of the New World monkey, platyrrhines along with the muriquis (''Brachyte ...
, a type 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 ...
,
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
. Although the Coiba Island howler has been recognized as a separate species by a number of authorities since a 1987 study of its fingerprints,
mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...
testing found it does not differ from mantled howler populations in any significant way. A reason given for treating it as a separate species is that the dermal ridges of its hands and feet differ from those of the mantled howler. ''A. c. coibensis'' is smaller than other Central American howler monkeys and has duller pelage than the Azuero howler, ''Alouatta coibensis trabeata''. On the island of
Jicarón Jicarón is an uninhabited island of Panama located in Montijo District in Veraguas Province. It lies off the southernmost tip of the island of Coiba in the Gulf of Chiriquí, an arm of the Pacific Ocean, and is part of Coiba National Park. G ...
, Coiba Island howlers coexist with Panamanian white-faced capuchins (''Cebus imitator''). In early 2022, motion-triggered cameras operating since 2017 on Jicarón to observe capuchin tool use detected for the first time male capuchins carrying infant Coiba Island howlers on their backs while walking or smashing seeds with rocks. Further research indicated that during 2022 and 2023, at least five male capuchins abducted at least 11 infant howler monkeys and carried them on their backs. Although the capuchins did not harm the baby howlers, they were unable to properly care for or feed them, and at least four — and probably most or all — of the baby howlers died. By the time they announced their findings in May 2025, researchers had concluded that the cameras had captured a behavior that had only recently arisen as a "fashion fad" among a single population of male capuchins, and described the capuchins' behavior as "the first known documentation of a social tradition in which animals repeatedly abduct and carry infants of another species — without any clear benefit to themselves."


Subspecies

Two subspecies of this howler have been recognized by those who consider it a separate species: *''Alouatta coibensis coibensis''
Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...
, 1902
, found on Coiba Island and
Jicarón Jicarón is an uninhabited island of Panama located in Montijo District in Veraguas Province. It lies off the southernmost tip of the island of Coiba in the Gulf of Chiriquí, an arm of the Pacific Ocean, and is part of Coiba National Park. G ...
, off the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
coast of
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
* Azuero howler, ''A. c. trabeata'' Lawrence, 1933,
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to the Azuero Peninsula in Panama.


References


External links

Howler monkeys Howler, Coiba Island Mammals described in 1902 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{newworld-monkey-stub