Aracá Uakari

• Common Name: Aracá Uakari
• Taxonomy Classification Year: 2008
• Monkey Size: 36.5 to 48.5 cm (14.37 to 19.09 in)
• Skin Color(s): Reddish brown
• Habitat: Mountains, rainforests
• Diet: Omnivorous
• Native Countries: Brazil

The Aracá uakari^[1], also called the Ayres black uakari, is a newly described monkey species endemic to the northwestern Brazilian Amazon.

• Uakaris are odd among New World monkeys in that tail length (15 to 18 cm) is significantly less than head and body length (40-45 cm).
• Their bodies are draped with long flowing hair, but their heads are bald. They have nearly no subcutaneous fat, so their bald faces look almost like skulls.
• Like saki monkeys – their closest relatives – they have to protrude lower incisors.
• These monkeys also have the primate’s most distinctive red facial skin.

• The species was found by Jean-Philippe Boubli of the University of Auckland after following local Yanomamo Indians on their hunts along the Aracá River, a northern tributary of the Negro River^[2].
• This monkey is named in honor of Brazilian biologist José Márcio Ayres, who was previously a senior zoologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society.
• Very little is known about the Aracá uakari, but to the best of our knowledge, it has the smallest distribution of any uakari species (perhaps as little as 5, 000 to 6, 000 square kilometers (1, 900 to 2, 300 sq mi)).
• Uakaris are easily distinguished from other genera by their size and short tail.
• Although few people live in its very remote range, it is at least hunted seasonally.