The Madidi Monkey - WCS Needs Your Help to Protect this New Hope for Conservation

Help Save a Treasured Wilderness!

All donations will go to support ongoing conservation efforts in the Madidi protected area. WCS will work with its partners, the Bolivian National Park Service (SERNAP) and the Foundation for the Development of the Protected Area System of Bolivia (FUNDESNAP), to decide the specific activities that will be financed by this support, responding to the protected area's priorities and needs.

When WCS researcher Dr. Robert Wallace discovered a new species of monkey in the jungles of Madidi National Park in Bolivia last year, he knew he needed to protect its rain forest home. That’s when he decided to auction the species name to the highest bidder, announced last week: GoldenPalace.com.

A team of WCS staff from Development, Public Affairs and our Office of the General Counsel worked with auction host Charity Folks, a leading online auction venue for nonprofits. The auction attracted worldwide interest, with bids from more than a dozen countries. The funds raised from the species naming auction go directly to FUNDESNAP, a Bolivian organization responsible for helping manage the Madidi National Park.

The internet casino GoldenPalace.com won the auction with its bid of $650,000. GoldenPalace.com has chosen to name the species Callicebus aureipalatii, which Latinizes “Golden Palace.”  The winners are using GoldenPalace.com monkey as a common name.

Madidi National Park, where the monkey lives, was established in 1995. It contains a stunning array of habitat types—from lowland forests to alpine meadows surrounded by glaciers—all in an area about the size of New Jersey. Besides the new monkey, within its border live healthy populations of jaguars, giant river otters, over 1,000 bird species and many varieties of rare orchids, and other unique plants.

Very little is known about Callicebus aureipalatii except that it stands about a foot tall, weighs two pounds and likes fruit. In the morning pairs of them gather and “duet,” calling back and forth while clutching each other in what resembles a human embrace.

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