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Success for biologists supervising a captive breeding programme for
one of Brazil’s most endangered primates has turned out to be bittersweet:
they have bred more monkeys but have nowhere to release them because the
animal’s natural habitat has been all but destroyed. At the same time, attempts
to set up colonies abroad have been hampered by Brazilian bureaucracy.

There are estimated to be fewer than 800 yellow-breasted capuchins left
in the wild. They are found only in the Atlantic forest in the extreme south
of Bahia state.

Attempts to breed the animal began in 1984 with six animals. The primate
centre near Rio de Janeiro now has 20. But they cannot be released. Only
small isolated patches of forest are left, and these would not support any
more monkeys. Releasing the monkeys elsewhere could prove disastrous for
other species. As well as fruit, the capuchins will eat insects and small
mammals. ‘You could save one species but wipe out 40 others,’ says Alcides
Pissinatti of the centre.

Pissinatti says the only solution is to find an area close to the capuchins’
original habitat where it would do little damage. He is also trying to set
up three or four satellite colonies in other countries to lessen the risk
of the entire captive colony being wiped out by disease. But these plans
are being held up. ‘It can take two years for the government to approve
the export of an animal. They keep changing the regulations so you never
really know what’s happening,’ he says.