Monkeys in the Wampis (Huambisa) Life and Cosmology in the Peruvian Amazonian Rainforest

Abstract

Wampis (also known as Huambisa and Peruvian Shuar) is a group of indigenous people living a traditional subsistence economy of swidden horticulture complemented with hunting. They are inhabitants of the Peruvian Amazonian tropical rainforest. The Wampis has a rich relationship with their complex population of monkey, which is expressed in their mythology/cosmology as well as their uses for subsistence and pet keeping. They recognized 11 folk-generic taxa by name which includes 14 species of monkeys found in their territory. These species are pygmy marmoset (Cebuella pygmaea), brown-mantled tamarin (Saguinus fuscicollis), Spix’s night monkey (Aotus vociferans), Nancy-Ma’s night monkey (Aotus nancymaae), common squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus), white-fronted capuchin monkey (Cebus albifrons), tufted capuchin monkey (Sapajus apella), white-tailed titi monkey (Callicebus discolor), monk saki monkey (Pithecia monachus), Ecuadorian saki monkey (Pithecia aequatorialis), Jurua red howler monkey (Alouatta juara), white-bellied spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth), common woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha), and Poeppig’s woolly monkey (Lagothrix poeppigii). The information explored in this chapter is the result of three field trips among the Wampis in a 7-year period (2004, 2009, and 2011) and a brief review of existing literature about them.