Interspecific Interaction and Predator Avoidance Behavior in Response to Tayra (Eira barbara) by Mantled Howler Monkeys (Alouatta palliata)

Norberto Asensio and Francisco Gómez-Marín

ABSTRACT. This paper reports the response of one howler monkey group (Alouatta palliata) to a group of potential predators, the tayra (Eira barbara). The apparently successful predator avoidance behavior of the monkeys was recorded in detail. We observed a group of four adult tayras moving around the Alouatta group displaying a species-typical aggressive behavioral pattern. The two adult females of the howler group successfully chased the tayras away by repeatedly moving closer to the mustelids and even following them until the predators moved off.