SKELETAL PATHOLOGIES IN A POPULATION OF ALOUATTA-PALLIATA - BEHAVIORAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND EVOLUTIONARY IMPLICATIONS

We examined the pathological conditions in a sample of 200 skulls of A louatta palliata recovered from Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, t o investigate the prevalence of disease and injury in a free-ranging m onkey population. Forty-five individual (22.5%) have some type of nond ental pathological condition, indicating that illness and injury are r elatively common in this population. Ten individuals, all older adult males, exhibit clear signs of antemortem trauma in the form of healed fractures. We attribute the trauma primarily to fighting, and its freq uency (16.4% of adult males) contradicts previous assertions that BCI howlers are nonaggressive. Nine of the 37 scorable immature individual s (24%) have signs of a larval infestation, supporting the suggestion that ectoparasites play an important role in BCT howler mortality. Oth er pathological conditions in the sample include shifted muscle attach ments, periostitis, arthritis, neoplasm, periapical abscesses, and fac ial deformity, as well as various dental abnormalities.