Masked titi  (Callicebus personatus)

Classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List (1) and listed on Appendix II of CITES (2).

The masked titi, Callicebus personatus, is a particularly striking New World monkey, with distinctive facial markings, a black forehead and black sideburns. The upper and lower parts of the body are a varying mixture of grey, buff, yellow and orange. The tail is similarly coloured but tinged with black, and the fur on the hands and feet are also black (3).

Adult male and female masked titis may engage in duets or give dawn calls, eliciting responses from other groups (4). The adult male may also give territorial ‘loud calls’. These are short sequences of noises that sound like “chirrup-pump”, which are either given as a single burst or as a series of short bursts, lasting from a few seconds to two minutes (5).

The masked titi is endemic to Brazil. It has a relatively small geographic range in the south east of the country, spanning Espírito Santo, north-western Minas Gerais and northern Rio de Janeiro. The range of the masked titi is bordered by that of other titi monkeys of the genus Callicebus, and also overlaps with some of the most densely human populated parts of Brazil (1).

The masked titi is an arboreal species and is found in the lower canopy of subtropical and moist tropical secondary forests, in thickets and vine tangles (6). It has also been observed in banana tree groves (7).

Described as opportunistic, the masked titi feeds on the leaves, flowers, fruit and seeds of a wide variety of plant species (8) (9). The diet of the masked titi changes with season. In the dry season, more seeds are taken (9) and the foraging range is reduced (10), whereas in the warmer months, more fruit is eaten (11). The masked titi has also been observed feeding alongside Geoffroy’s tufted-eared marmosets, (Callithrix geoffroyi) (7).

The masked titi is monogamous and lives in groups of two to six individuals, usually consisting of a breeding pair and its offspring (12). Infants are born between August and October (7). The male becomes the principle care giver for young when they are one week old, carrying them for the majority of the time (4). Titi monkeys have a unique system of reinforcing social bonds, whereby group members groom each other, huddling together with their tails entwined as they sleep (4).

The masked titi is diurnal and active for around 12 hours a day, the majority of which is spent resting, travelling and feeding (11). Usually, particular boughs of trees are used by the masked titi for sleeping overnight. The adult males are usually the last to leave the sleeping trees in the morning (4).

Hunting pressure on the masked titi is thought to be low compared to capuchins and marmosets from the same region. However, numbers of the masked titi have decreased by 30% in the last 24 years, as a result of ongoing deforestation and habitat fragmentation as forest is converted for cattle ranching, agriculture and urban development. The demand for land is so high that only five to ten percent of forest cover remains, meaning that populations of the masked titi are becoming increasingly isolated. This increases the risk of inbreeding and lowers genetic diversity in small populations (1).

The largest remaining populations of the masked titi are located within the Reserva Biològica de Sooretama and the Reserva Natural de Linhares (1). However, there are no known direct conservation progammes for this species. The masked titi is also listed on Appendix II of CITES, which means that any trade in masked titis, living or dead, is closely controlled (2).

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Find out more

More information on conservation in Brazil:

• WWF - Brazil:
  http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/brazil/
• The Nature Conservancy - Brazil:
  http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/southamerica/brazil/index.htm
• Conservation International - Brazil:
  http://www.conservation.org/where/south_america/brazil/Pages/brazil.aspx