Appearance
The ornate titi has a thick, dense, fluffy, coat, with white ears and forehead, and grey hands and feet. The rest of the body is a bright chestnut red, apart from the tail, which is a dark-reddish brown or black, becoming white at the tip, and, similar to most titi species, is longer than its body. Male and female ornate titis do not differentiate significantly in appearance, however, generally, females tend to be larger, with an average male body length of 633 mm, and an average female body length of 752 mm.Naming
It was once classified as the same species as the white-tailed titi, but is now officially recognized as its own species. The ornate titi is also terrestrial.Status
Some conservation efforts within Colombia have been made, since the species occurs in La Macarena National Park and Tinigua National Park, and although some populations have been observed in protected areas, guerilla activity makes it difficult to monitor.The ornate titi is present on the IUCN Red List of endangered species, being recognized as “Vulnerable”, and having a general decrease in population trends.
Behavior
The ornate titi is monogamous, and their upbringing is entirely paternal, only ever being passed to the mother to be fed. with the birth season being from December to March, with the smallest infants being born in December to January. The average gestation period for an ornate titi is 128 days months, and there have been observations that, during lactation, female titis tend to increase the amount of protein in their diet .Habitat
The ornate titi lives in the department of Cundinamarca north as far as the lower Ro Upa/Ro Meta, and south into the department of Meta, along the base of the Cordillera Oriental and the Sierra de la Macarena to the Ro Guayabero/upper Ro Guaviare. It mainly inhabits the tropic and sub-tropic levels of the forest, generally preferring areas with dense vegetation, such as thickets, tangles, thorny underbrushes and wet or even waterlogged areas.The ornate titi tends to sleep in vine tangles located on small branches of trees, generally preferring to be at least 15 m off of the ground. Like other members of the moloch group, the ornate titi is considered tolerant of seasonal flooding and disturbances within its habitat, and is commonly found living in areas of forest disturbed by humans, in particular thriving on highly disturbed habitats. However, due to the continuous expanding of human settlements and therefore declination of both the size and quality of the ornate titi’s habitat, the presence of the species has become severely fragmented, with the current approximate area of habituated land around 20,000 km a decline of 30% in the last 24 years, and has been listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN since 1994 and is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
Decline in habitat has also lead to a change in population, with a recorded population density of 5 individuals/km, and a general decreasing population trend.
Reproduction
The ornate titi is monogamous, and their upbringing is entirely paternal, only ever being passed to the mother to be fed. with the birth season being from December to March, with the smallest infants being born in December to January. The average gestation period for an ornate titi is 128 days months, and there have been observations that, during lactation, female titis tend to increase the amount of protein in their diet .Food
The ornate titi is an omnivore, but its diet is mainly frugivorous, their diet consisting of 70% fruit, 26% leaves, and less than 1% insects, usually with a preference for fruit that is not ripe, or that comes from smaller trees, as they can more efficiently exploit the more concentrated supply. However, they will also eat small insects, such as moths, butterflies, cocoons, spiders, and ants, and are able to catch flying insects out of the air.Out of the leaves which make up more than quarter of their diet, the ornate titi tends to prefer small leaves and buds, and during the dry season, their diets will become a lot more vine and bamboo based.
Predators
The ornate titi lives in the department of Cundinamarca north as far as the lower Ro Upa/Ro Meta, and south into the department of Meta, along the base of the Cordillera Oriental and the Sierra de la Macarena to the Ro Guayabero/upper Ro Guaviare. It mainly inhabits the tropic and sub-tropic levels of the forest, generally preferring areas with dense vegetation, such as thickets, tangles, thorny underbrushes and wet or even waterlogged areas.The ornate titi tends to sleep in vine tangles located on small branches of trees, generally preferring to be at least 15 m off of the ground. Like other members of the moloch group, the ornate titi is considered tolerant of seasonal flooding and disturbances within its habitat, and is commonly found living in areas of forest disturbed by humans, in particular thriving on highly disturbed habitats. However, due to the continuous expanding of human settlements and therefore declination of both the size and quality of the ornate titi’s habitat, the presence of the species has become severely fragmented, with the current approximate area of habituated land around 20,000 km a decline of 30% in the last 24 years, and has been listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN since 1994 and is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
Decline in habitat has also lead to a change in population, with a recorded population density of 5 individuals/km, and a general decreasing population trend.The predominant and most important predators of all titis are raptors. Several species of raptor have been observed attacking a titi, including the Guianan crested eagle and the Ornate hawk-eagle . Tufted capuchins have also been observed killing and consuming an ornate titi.
References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
