The "wary" owl-faced monkey exists in an area locked in by natural borders, and contains dense rainforest yielding extreme weather conditions, such as the rainy season (Kingdon, 1997). In addition to the habitat and behavioral difficulties, there is the very sizable "human factor" that adds to the difficulty and reason for little to no field research or census of the owl-faced monkey. As stated previously, hunting humans pose the greatest threat to the owl-faced monkey. Other monkey species of ecological relation to the owl-faced monkey have been documented and photographed as victims of the bushmeat trade in which monkeys are killed for money (McRae, 1997). A potentially even greater dilemma is the refugee situation created as the result war and revolt. The UN has been receiving reports (1997-1998) from the new Democratic Republic of Congo of refugee movements from Rwanda and Uganda through what is known to be owl-faced monkey area of distribution. In such cases, the starving refugees must hunt for food amidst their journey along what may be a isolated road transecting a rainforest habitat.
This map table provides illustrations of Owl-faced monkey distribution combined with other elements of consideration such as geography, parks and human presence. To view the various maps click on the corresponding map buttons.
| Map Type | Regular Size | Zoom Size |
| African Continent | |
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| Natural Environment or Geography | |
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| Parks or Protected Areas | |
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| Owl-Faced Monkey Presence | |
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| Human Presence | |
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| Refugee Movements | |
Sharing the same habitat which remains unprotected from hunting and deforestation, owl-faced monkeys and the eastern gorilla are exceedingly vulnerable to extinction (Kingdon, 1997). In captivity, the reproductive rates are low and unsuccessful. Graham Catlow's studbook provides comprehensive tables giving perspective of how urgent the Owl-faced Monkey captive status has been. Figures 1, 2, and 3 provide unaltered scanned images of Graham Catlow's studbook data pages. Owl-faced monkeys are listed as Class B (African Convention), Appendix 2 (CITES, and Vulnerable to Extinction (IUCN) (Kingdon, 1997).
