Hug-Loving ‘Hippie’ Monkeys Left Alone in Forest as Epidemic Kills Other Primates

The northern muriqui monkeys of Brazil — popularly known as “hippie” primates — are vegetarians, begin their day with a group hug, and are one of the planet’s most peaceful and egalitarian animals. They normally share their forest habitat with noisy howler monkeys that eat their food and appear to get on their nerves, but the hippies are now in flux. A yellow fever epidemic just wiped out thousands of howlers, leaving the hippies as the only thriving primates in the forest.Karen Strier, a University of Wisconsin-Madison anthropologist, just visited the forest, which lies within the federally protected RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala reserve near the Brazilian city of Caratinga.