DEMOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL-STRUCTURE OF ONE GROUP OF MURIQUIS (BRACHYTELES-ARACHNOIDES)

We monitored one group of muriquis, or woolly spider monkeys (Brachyteles arachnoides), over a 9-year period at Fazenda Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The group grew from 22 to 42 individuals due to the births of 21 surviving infants. Eight immigrations involving immature females were offset by emigrations and disappearances. The home range of the group expanded as the group size increased. The group traveled as a cohesive unit during the first 6 years of the study, but recently it has begun to show greater tendencies to fission temporarily into smaller subgroups. Six adult males from the other muriqui group at this site have simultaneously increased their associations with the main study group. These observations indicate that the group is in a state of transition which may lead, ultimately, either to its division into two smaller units or to a more fluid social structure.