NPC Argentina

Argentina is home to five species of primate that inhabit different forest types in the northern part of the country, especially in the provinces of Formosa, Chaco, Corrientes, Misiones, Salta, Jujuy, and Santa Fe.

Find out about our work in Argentina here!

NPC Argentina Projects

Created in 2021, NPC Argentina team features some of the countries leading primatologists

Some of these species are threatened with extinction, including the brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba clamitans), and the spectacular black and gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya), Azara’s night monkey (Aotus azarae), and Azara’s capuchin (Sapajus cay) and are all listed as Vulnerable in Argentina. Habitat loss and hunting are the main threats to these species, and understanding their ecological and conservation needs will be priorities for our work. Argentina has a long history of investigation, and is one of the most advanced countries in the neotropics with regards to primatology. NPC Argentina aims to build on this history, carrying out investigation and applied conservation work.

Forest Protection

We help local people create and manage reserves to protect their natural resources, and in so doing, protect primates, their habitats, and all species.
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Environmental Education

Generating proper understanding of the need for conservation ensures longevity of our initiatives. We work with adults and children to promote awareness.
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Scientific Investigation

We work with some of the least known species on earth, our investigations provide essential knowledge for conserving these species.
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Wildlife trafficking

The illegal wildlife trade is driving many species to extinction, and we are on the front lines in the fight against trafficking.
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Meet the team

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Luciana Oklander
President

Luciana is an investigator for the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y

Técnicas (CONICET). Since 1998, she has worked in diverse investigations in evolutionary biology, genetics, and behaviour of primates at Buenos Aires University (UBA), the Argentinian Museum of Natural Sciences, the Catholic University of Porto Alegre in BRASIL, and recently in the Grupo de Investigación en Genética Aplicada (GIGA-IBS, CONICET-UNAM) and the University of Texas at Austin. She holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Buenos Aires, on genetic and behavioural characteristics of black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya). Her research focuses on genetics, health, and conservation of various species of neotropical primate. Luciana is a member of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist group, is a former president of the Argentinian Primatological Association (2015-2017), and is current secretary of the Latin American Primatological Society.
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Martin Kowalewski
Vice President

Martín is an investigator for the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones en Ciencia y

Tecnología de Argentina (CONICET), Director of the Corrientes Biological Station, and professor of animal behaviour at the National University del Nordeste (Argentina). He gained his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Illinois, his MA in Biological Sciences from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, with studies in ecology, demography and sociality in black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in northern Argentina. Martín’s principal interest is in the role of primates in infectious diseases at the domestic-wild interface, and the evolution of friendship and sociality. He is a founding member of the Latin American Primatological Society (SLAPRIM) and the Argentinian Primatological Association (APRIMA), where he has held various posts, including president, since 2009. He is Regional Vice President for the Southern Cone – Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group.
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Dante Di Nucci
NPC Argentina

Dante is a medical veterinarian at the Güirá Oga wildlife refuge (Puerto Iguazú)

investigator at the Félix de Azara Natural History Foundation, and for the Grupo de Investigación en Salud de los Ecosistemas (GISaE). He is a graduate of Rosario National University, and has a diploma in ex-situ wildlife management from the Parque Zoológico Nacional en Cuba. He is studying his MSc in animal health at the University of Buenos Aires. He is interested in wildlife health and care, applied to clinical attention during rehabilitation processes, as well as the study of infectious diseases and parasites. He has also acted as field veterinarian in various conservation projects and as university professor. He is vice president of the Latin American Wildlife Veterinarians Association (ALVEFAS), member of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) and of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (AAZV).
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Gimena Illia
NPC Argentina

Gimena is a biologist at Luján National University (Argentina), funded by the Consejo

Nacional de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Argentina (CONICET). Since her undergraduate studies she has been interested in parasite-host interactions, studying parasitology in various native and exotic mammals in Argentina. She gained experience working voluntarily in several countries, concentrating on infectious diseases produced by parasites. Since 2019, she is carrying out her doctoral studies to determine the impact of infectious diseases on cai capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) living in the wild-domestic interface in Argentina, and how this is affected by habitat loss and fragmentation. In her field work she is accompanied by her sniffer dog, April (https://www.facebook.com/gotscat), trained to find monkey faeces. She also collaborates on howler monkey genetics projects in Misiones province, and studies parasites in exotic mammals in Buenos Aires. Gimena is a member, and communications group coordinator, of the Argentinian Primatological Asociation.
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Victoria Martinez de Zorzi
NPC Argentina

Victoria carried out her undergraduate studies at the University of Buenos Aires and

holds a diploma in Biostatistics from Cordoba National University. She is currently carrying out her doctoral studies in biology, specializing in evolutionary genetics at the Buenos Aires University, funded by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Argentina (CONICET). She is Coordinator of the Global Education Program of the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots, Argentina, where she leads workshops in schools in rural areas of importance for conservation of the Atlantic Forest and native primates threatened by hunting and the pet trade. Her principal interests are in the sharing of knowledge and information about the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on the genetic diversity and ecology of wild populations of cai capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) in the Argentinian Atlantic forest, generating strategies for their conservation and management, within the social context and perception of local communities, with the aim of generating understanding of the important role this species has in the preservation of the ecosystem.
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Nicolas Gorostiaga
NPC Argentina

Nicolas is a biologist from the Litoral National University, Argentina, where his

studies focused on analyzing the influence of landscape characteristics on forest fragment occupation by black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in north eastern Argentina. He has also studied ecology and behaviour of mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata mexicana) in los Tuxtlas, México, with the University of Veracruz, and is carrying out censuses of howler monkeys in recovering populations of howler monkeys after yellow fever outbreaks in the south of Misiones province, Argentina. He currently works in the communications sector of the Argentinian Primatological Association (APRIMA) and the Latin American Primatological Society (SLAPRIM).
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Javier Orlando Azuaga
NPC Argentina

Javier is native to Misiones province, which is home to three of Argentina’s five

primate species. He studied Social Communication at the National University of Misiones, and is a Digital Marketing graduate of the Instituto Mariano Pachecoy. Since 2016 Javier has worked at the Güira Oga wildlife refuge (Puerto Iguazu), where trafficked animals and injured wildlife are taken for rehabilitation. He works as Community Manager, does social media management and SEO based web design and analytics, helping conservation through digital tool management and using these kinds of communication as a strategy for environmental education.
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