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Two Tiny Monkeys Are Critical to Restoring the Amazon, With Their Poop - Atlas Obscura
These tamarins have an affinity for disturbed rain forest.
he Amazon rain forest still dominates much of northern South America, stretching across nine countries and providing a home to countless creatures and plants, large and small. Amid alarming news about its future, both animal life and indigenous tribes are increasingly being forced to relocate as deforestation and mining encroach deeper into the forest. Up against these threats, two pint-sized monkeys are proving to be engines for rebuilding forest spaces—with their feces.
Mustached and black-fronted tamarins eat a varied diet, but they’re known to frequent Parkia parunensis, a plant with a flower that looks not unlike a sea anemone, all pink and plumed. Inhabiting the borderlands between Peru and Brazil, the little monkeys’ habitat often overlaps with human interests. The animals are not endangered, but they suffer just the same when the forest canopies they call home are clear-cut. According to a recent paper published in Nature, however, the tamarins tenaciously help reclaim damaged forest by dispersing their seed-rich droppings in the areas humans had razed.
These tamarins have an affinity for disturbed rain forest.
he Amazon rain forest still dominates much of northern South America, stretching across nine countries and providing a home to countless creatures and plants, large and small. Amid alarming news about its future, both animal life and indigenous tribes are increasingly being forced to relocate as deforestation and mining encroach deeper into the forest. Up against these threats, two pint-sized monkeys are proving to be engines for rebuilding forest spaces—with their feces.
Mustached and black-fronted tamarins eat a varied diet, but they’re known to frequent Parkia parunensis, a plant with a flower that looks not unlike a sea anemone, all pink and plumed. Inhabiting the borderlands between Peru and Brazil, the little monkeys’ habitat often overlaps with human interests. The animals are not endangered, but they suffer just the same when the forest canopies they call home are clear-cut. According to a recent paper published in Nature, however, the tamarins tenaciously help reclaim damaged forest by dispersing their seed-rich droppings in the areas humans had razed.
