Final Thoughts...

At this point after everything I’ve learned, I am extremely afraid for this species of monkeys. With deforestation, caused by colonization which will then lead to overpopulation, I feel as if this cycle isn’t broken the white bellied spider monkey will in fact go extinct. It would seem extremely convenient to capture about a dozen of these monkeys and hope that they mate and have multiple offspring and save their entire species population. But in a previous post it’s a known fact that these monkeys practically never give birth in captivity.(8) If this was not the case than, perhaps there would be hope.

Deforestation and new civilizations moving into the forest would also be difficult to regulate. As a newly informed student, the protection of these monkeys will go unnoticed to the birth of a new group of people. I feel as if it is human nature to want to survive, and if hunting these monkeys will help them survive, than by all means they are going to hunt this slowly dwindling population of white bellied spider monkeys. If they were to be hunted into extinction they would die off a lot quicker. If deforestation were to be the cause of their extinction it would take a longer process. They would have to travel further distances to find food, and eventually they would run out of food, or the old wouldn’t survive the journey and they would die off. I am not sure if awareness alone could possible save this species. We need to take an active role in stopping deforestation, and try to help the new civilizations find other means of food. I don’t know,

I just don’t know. There’s got to be a way to save these spiderlike mammals.