Canopy Guardians
The once vast forests of the Middle Magdalena Valley, Colombia, have been reduced to forest islands surrounded by a sea of pastures. Arboreal wildlife like the white-footed tamarin monkey (Saguinus leucopus) become stranded in forest patches, challenged to find food and mates.
Yet tamarins and other monkeys play an important role in forest preservation: they disperse seeds from the fruits they eat, thus regenerating forests. It’s safe to say that tamarins can’t live without forests, and forests can’t live without tamarins.
The Canopy Guardians program seeks to preserve forest patches and all their wildlife in the Middle Magdalena Valley. With the vital participation of community members and landowners, we reforest pastures with native trees, plant forest corridors to connect forest patches, conduct environmental outreach in local communities, and monitor wildlife on the ground and in the treetops through an extensive network of camera traps.
Saguinus leucopus (tamarino de patas blancas) Jaime Duque Zoo, Cundinamarca, Colombia
Photo por Petruss, Wikimedia Commons.
With our camera data we can design forest and wildlife conservation strategies while working with dozens of landowners to implement them.
Did you know we climb tropical trees to save entire forests?