This is the story of wildlife biologist Dr. Mark Bowler and the efforts of the Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology and the Wildlife Conservation Society- to protect the Red Uakari monkey: who's well-being is so important to the health of the Amazon jungle, in this south-east corner of Peru, near the Brazilian border.

The Red Uakari presides over the the "tree of life"- the Aguaje palm and by feeding on it, helps distribute this valuable fruit to other animals of the forest. Now the Red Uakari's home is being threatened and this film tells the story of efforts to protect this area and the litte red monkey- the guardian of the tree of life.

April 19th, at 7:00pm on Animal Planet in the US
Oct 18th at 8:00pm on CBC Nature of Things in Canada

Gryphon Productions crew shot over the course of two seasons- both dry and wet seasons, over the course of a year to film these unique, threatened Red Uakari monkeys in the wild, for the first time.

Shooting in the dry season required hours of hiking with heavy High Definition cameras and equipment, over many kilometers of trails, and jungle to locate the Red Uakaris in their habitat for filming; returning 6 months later in April and May 2008, they traveled by canoe, from the the "base camp" on board the "Lobo de Rio" research ship. The river had risen 20 ft or more and had flooded the forest, resulting in a new type of camera shoot- where crews paddled, dragged and waded through swamps and thick jungles to find the Red Uakaris- now dining on their favorite, ripe Aguaje Fruit. Large telephoto zoom lenses were used to videotape the animals sometimes, more than 70 meters away...