Farm helps save South America's largest monkey

By Gary Strieker
CNN Environmental Correspondent

(CNN) -- A new private nature reserve in Brazil will provide the habitat needed to protect a rare endangered monkey from extinction.

South America's largest monkey, the northern muriqui, has faced growing threats to its survival because of habitat loss in Brazil's Atlantic forest, an increasingly fragmented and biologically diverse area.

"The Atlantic forest region in Brazil is one of the five highest-priority areas on earth for primate conservation," said Russell Mittermeier of Conservation International.

Only about 300 northern muriquis survive in the wild, according to biologists. About half of them are in a nature sanctuary that has just been created on a farm in the state of Minas Gerais.

The reserve is very small, less than 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres), or about three times the size of New York's Central Park. But it is big enough to ensure the survival of the northern muriqui as a species.

The reserve was established by agreement between the farm's owners and the Brazilian government.

Washington-based Conservation International will provide financial assistance and technical support to the reserve and to a center for research, education and tourism.

Other endangered animals are also found in the reserve, including black-capped capuchins, buffy-headed marmosets and brown howler monkeys. All of them are now protected in the latest addition to a growing number of private nature sanctuaries in Brazil.