1 78 APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



THE UAKARI MONKEYS 

 Genus Uacaria 



As we find among the monkeys of the Old World a great variation in regard to 

 the relative length of the tail in closely allied forms, so in the New World there is 

 a group of monkeys closely allied to the sakis, but distinguished by the extreme 

 shortness of this appendage, and therein differing from all the other American 

 monkeys. From their peculiar coloration, two of the uakaris, as these monkeys are 

 called, are among the most remarkable mammals in the world. 



All the three species of uakari have long and silky hair, which is directed for- 

 wards on the forehead ; but they have scarcely any distinct beard. The tail is very 

 short, never being more than about a third the length of the body, and sometimes 

 being reduced to a mere stump. From the shortness of their tails, they received at 

 first the very appropriate name Brachyurus ; but since this term had been previously 

 applied to another group of animals, it had to be changed, and Dr. Gray proposed 

 the uncouth name Uacaria, as a Latinized form of their native title. The shelving 

 forwards of the lower incisor teeth, which we have already noticed as characteristic 

 of the sakis, is still more marked in the uakaris. 



THE BALD UAKARI {Uacaria calva} 



The species represented in our figure is one of two closely allied monkeys 

 found in the valley of the Upper Amazon, and readily distinguished by their 

 brilliant scarlet faces, and the light color of the long hair of their bodies. The 

 length of the head and body of this species is about eighteen inches ; the whole of 

 the body, from the neck to the tail, being clothed with long, straight, and shining 

 hair of a whitish color. The head is nearly bald, having only a very thin crop of 

 short gray hairs. Beneath the chin and on the sides of the face there are bushy 

 whiskers of a sandy color; while the tint of the eyes is reddish yellow. The 

 contrast between these colors and the vivid scarlet of the naked part of the face 

 must be very striking when the animal is alive ; but, owing to the fugitive nature 

 of the face-pigment, all this is lost in museum specimens. 



This monkey has an extremely limited distribution, being found only on the 

 left bank of the Amazon, in the neighborhood of Ega ; its small area being limited 

 to the east by the river Japura, and to the west by the Putumayo, or lea, as it is 

 often called. Mr. Bates states that in this area the uakari ' ' lives in small troops 

 amongst the crowns of the lofty trees, subsisting on fruits of various kinds. Hunt- 

 ers say it is pretty nimble in its motions, but is not much given to leaping, prefer- 

 ring to run up and down the larger boughs in traveling from tree to tree. The 

 mother, as in the other species of the monkey order, carries her young on her back. 

 Individuals are obtained alive by shooting them with the blow-pipe and arrows 

 tipped with diluted urari poison. They run a considerable distance after being 

 pierced, and it requires an experienced hunter to track them. He is considered the 



