“At that time, those forests became crops.” “The tití monkey’s habitat was drastically reduced in the 1930’s when the booming of banana companies established its operations in Quepos and other towns in the country’s south. The tití monkey is an indicator of environmental degradation in the Central Pacific.Īgüero said that in the last 80 years, the tití monkey’s population have gone through severe changes. However, deforestation is the major cause of their habitat loss. Insecticides, herbicides, power lines and illegal pet trade threaten the tití monkey. Ecologically, the tití monkey also plays an important role in seed dispersal and insect predation. Their diet consists of insects, leaves and fruits. “Tourists who come from different countries and visit the Central Pacific wish to spot these primates,” stated Agüero He stated that without ecotourism his community’s future would perish. “If we lose our biodiversity, our fauna, our flora, we will lose everything”Īgüero said that ecotourism was Quepos’ principal economic activity. “Ecotourism is supported in a great extent by biodiversity,” said Agüero. “Biodiversity is our future.”Īgüero said that the tití monkey’s habitat symbolizes the convergence point that exists between the terrestrial and marine systems. “The tití monkey represents biodiversity,” said Agüero. Unfortunately, in 1996 the tití monkey was listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as a critically endangered species.įive years later, a group of business owners within the eco-tourism industry, environmentalists and volunteers from the harbor town of Quepos, joined efforts to create the Titi Conservation Alliance in 2001It aims to protect this emblematic species, Juan Pablo Agüero, a forestry engineer and Titi Conservation Alliance’s member told The Tico Times. Thus, this subspecies is only found in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific coast in an around the towns of Quepos and Parrita in Puntarenas province. The Costa Rican tití monkey population spans from the Río Grande de Térraba to the Río Tulín at 300 to 400 meters above sea level. The tití monkey or the grey-crowned squirrel monkey ( Saimiri oerstedii citrinellus) are the smallest primate in Costa Rica, a flagship species to the Central Pacific area. The tití monkey ( Saimiri oerstedii) is a Central American primate species, which has two subspecies that are geographically isolated, one of these subspecies is endemic to Costa Rica.

Tico the squirrel