DENSITY, DISTRIBUTION, AND HOME RANGE OF THE BLACK HOWLER MONKEY (ALOUATTA PIGRA) AT LAMANAI, BELIZE

The population of black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) at the Lamanai Archaeological Reserve in northwestern Belize was studied for a total of 11.5 months during 2 wet and 2 dry seasons between October 1993 and May 1995. We estimated home-range size and range overlap of troops in order to examine territoriality, and tested the null hypothesis that the population is uniformly distributed throughout the reserve in order to examine habitat use. Home-range sizes were similar to those at Bermudian Landing, Belize, but smaller than those at Tikal, Guatemala. Mean home-range size was estimated as 15.3 ha with 52% overlap based on a 1.0-ha grid. There was no evidence for territoriality. Population distribution was generally uniform, but ruin sites appeared to be preferred habitat and edge habitat was least frequented.