Isabel’s Saki

• Common Name: Isabel’s Saki
• Taxonomy Classification Year: 2014
• Monkey Size: 30 to 50 cm (11.81 to 19.67 in)
• Skin Color(s): Black
• Habitat: Forest, rainforest
• Diet: Carnivorous
• Native Countries: Peru

Isabel’s saki^[1] (Pithecia isabela) is a New World Monkey species, native to a small part of northern Peru.

• These sakis are small monkeys with long, bushy tails.
• Their body is adapted to live in trees, with strong hind legs that allow them to jump far.
• They reach a length of 30 to 50 cm, with an equally long tail. Isabel’s saki closely resembles Napo saki (Pithecia napensis), with the two species sharing a dark coloration with prominent white eye patches.
• Still, Pithecia napensis also has dense white fur on its forehead, while Pithecia isabela has a more diffused white fur.
• Pithecia isabela has a less extensive and slightly duller orange neck than P. napensis.

• Isabel’s saki is only known from a small part of northern Peru near the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve.
• The species was named in honor of Isabel Godin des Odonais, an 18th-century Ecuadorian noblewoman who traveled across South America to find her husband.
• Populations of this species were previously classified under the monk saki (Pithecia monachus). Still, a 2014 study described these populations as a separate species, Pithecia isabela, because of their distinctive pelage.
• They mostly walk on all fours, often running upright on their hind legs over branches and sometimes leaping long distances.
• Isabel’s saki is believed to be threatened by poaching, deforestation, and its small range. Thus its population is believed to be declining.