Nashville Zoo has unveiled a new habitat for red-backed bearded sakis, a rarely exhibited South American monkey species known for its shaggy beard and bushy tail.
According to WZTV, Nashville Zoo unveiled a new red-backed saki exhibit. The habitat's arboreal design includes features intended to encourage the sakis to move around.
A Monkey Built for Life in the Canopy
Red-backed bearded sakis are highly arboreal, social animals that rarely touch the ground, spending nearly all their time in trees, according to New England Primate Conservancy. The species is both diurnal and arboreal, and it typically turns up in the upper rainforest canopy near streams or rivers, as reported by dwazoo.com. Males run roughly 16 to 18 inches long and weigh between 5.7 and 7.1 pounds on average, the same source notes.
Their coats range from red to yellowish gold, and their signature features are a thick beard and a bushy, non-prehensile tail nearly as long as the body itself, per WZTV's report. Their teeth are suited for cracking open tough seed pods, and their diet leans heavily on fruits, seeds, nuts, flowers, insects and spiders. The dwazoo.com fact sheet describes them as primarily frugivores that feed on seeds, nuts and fruits while also taking in arthropods, and notes they typically travel in large troops of 20 to 30 members that split into smaller foraging groups.
Native Range Spans Five Countries
The species is native to Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela, according to the New England Primate Conservancy. The sakis tend to live deep in primary rainforest, especially near water, rather than at woodland edges.
Conservation status for the species is described differently depending on the source. New England Primate Conservancy describes bearded saki populations as very stable, classifying them as Least Concern under a 2015 IUCN assessment, while Wikipedia states the species is not considered endangered by the IUCN, even though it is sometimes hunted for meat. By contrast, dwazoo.com lists the red-backed bearded saki as IUCN Endangered and notes it is included in the AZA Species Survival Plan. Wikipedia also reports that 27 red-backed bearded sakis currently live in zoos worldwide, and a pair has previously been photographed at the Omaha Zoo.
Conservation Partnerships Behind the Exhibit
Nashville Zoo says the new habitat is meant to support keeping large areas of rainforest intact so monkeys and other animals can survive, per WZTV. The zoo backs RAREC in Peru, an organization that helps Amazon animals through rescue, rehabilitation, research and education, and it also partners with Proyecto Titi in Colombia, which protects critically endangered cotton-top tamarins.
Those partnerships are part of what the zoo describes as its participation in global and local conservation efforts for South American rainforests and wildlife. Nashville Zoo's 2025 conservation report spotlights that work both in Tennessee and around the world, and the zoo says it relies on community support to keep those programs running. Schwartz said the sakis can help connect guests to the cause of protecting rainforest habitats and the wildlife that depends on them, according to WZTV.
Species Survival Plans are designed to help animal populations thrive over time.
