Species Fact Profile: Pale-Faced Saki Monkey (Pithecia pithecia)

Pale-Faced (White-Faced) Saki Monkey

Pithecia pithecia (Linnaeus, 1766)

Range: Northeastern South America (Between Caroni and Orinoco Rivers)
Habitat: Rainforest
Diet: Seeds, Fruits, Leaves, Flowers
Social Grouping: Pairs or Small Groups up to 6 (Breeding Pair and Offspring)
Reproduction: Monogamous.  Sexually mature at 32 months old.  Gestation period 146 days.  Usually 1 offspring at a time.  Siblings from previous years may assist with care of infants.  Infants stay on their mothers for five months, first on the thigh, then onto the back
Lifespan: 15 Years
Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern, CITES Appendix II

• Body weight 2.35 kilogram average for males 1.75 kilograms for females
• Sexually dimorphic.  Males are glossy black with a white face and dark snout.  Females and newborns are brown with a black face and white stripe along the nose.  Young males obtain adult coloration at 3.5-4 years old
• Home ranges consist of about 10 hectares, moving about 1 kilometer a day.  Territories are marked with scent glands, urine, and territorial calls.  Individuals will shake branches and grunt to intimidate intruders
• Predators include jaguars, ocelots, tayras, harpy eagles, and large snakes.  Different alarm calls are used for different predators.  Troops will mob snakes
• Almost entirely arboreal.  Move on all fours through the branches, capable of flying leaps of up to 30 feet (nicknamed "flying jack" in some parts of South America)
• A former subspecies, the golden-faced saki has now been elevated to full-species status (P. chrysocephala)
• Hunted locally for meat and for the pet trade