Design and construction of environments for the rehabilitation of howler monkeys

The physical environment that an animal inhabits completely conditions its experience of it, the stimuli it perceives and, consequently, its behavior. In the case of animals that must be released, their behavior must be specially shaped and analyzed to ensure that their performance once released is the best possible.

Thus, when working to rehabilitate and release howler monkeys, it is essential to provide them with environments that promote the key natural behaviors that they must learn before their release, as well as ensuring that they acquire skills and tendencies that help their survival and establishment in the wild. In the case of howler monkeys, for example, it is important to minimize their tendency to descend to low areas, and to work on important locomotor skills, such as suspension behaviors for feeding and moving, and the use of the tail as an anchor in almost any circumstance. All this and much more can be optimized by providing them with an appropriate environment for this and that is what I have worked on and continue to work on daily, to ensure that their release is a success.