DUSKY TITI MONKEY

Did you know? Over two-thirds of visitors at all our lodges spot this tiny primate!

It’s late afternoon as your boat arrives at the dock at our Posada Amazonas lodge. In the surrounding Tambopata rainforest, the calls, hoots, and screeches of jungle wildlife echo down from the canopy. While walking along the trail to the lodge, a new sound breaks through the humid jungle air. It’s a distinctive, throaty yodeling, and the guide smiles as she turns around. “Dusky Titi monkey !”

The yodeling of the Dusky Titi Monkey is one of the first sounds you’ll hear each morning at Rainforest Expedition’s eco-lodges. Both the male and female of this pint-sized monkey species call out each morning and afternoon to establish their territories. For such small primates — they’re about the size of a squirrel! — they have quite a loud voice. Dusky Titi Monkeys are among the most populous monkeys in the Tambopata rainforest, and over two-thirds of our guests encounter them around our Rainforest Expedition lodges and during jungle hikes.

Dusky Titi Monkey Fun Facts

• Dusky Titi monkeys mate for life: Unlike many other primates, Dusky Titis form strong pair bonds and mate for life. They’re typically seen with their mates and young offspring, so you can often spot an entire Titi family.


• Mostly vegetarian: Dusky Titi monkeys mostly feed upon fruits, veggies, and other plants, although they will eat occasional insects.


• An understory monkey: Although the Dusky Titi stays off the ground, it rarely forages very high in the trees. Usually, you’ll spy them sitting in the upper understory of the forest.


• Rather inactive: Compared to Capuchins and Squirrel Monkeys, the Dusky Titi hardly moves around at all! These couch potatoes spend tons of time sitting in vine tangles and snacking on fruits in low rainforest trees.


• Preyed upon by raptors: Large raptors like the Ornate Hawk-Eagle and the Crested Eagle hunt this tiny monkey, along with many of its primate relatives in the Peruvian Amazon. It avoids these predators by staying out of the treetops and trying to stay hidden in the dense vegetation of the forest understory.


• They avoid Capuchins: While Squirrel Monkeys frequently forage in groups with Brown Capuchins, the Dusky Titi avoids that larger, more aggressive primate species. Researchers have even seen Brown Capuchins attack and kill Dusky Titi monkeys, so it’s easy to understand why these little primates would avoid their bigger Capuchin brethren!