In 1982, when University of Wisconsin anthropologist Karen Strier saw her first northern muriqui in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, fewer than 1,000 of the critically endangered monkeys remained, scattered across a few remnant patches of forest. At the time, the primate - South America's largest - was assumed to be inherently aggressive and living in male-dominated groups. Strier's field studies would dispel that myth and reveal the monkeys were egalitarian and peaceful. But her dedication to the muriquis was forged in the forest long before she understood them fully. It was a moment in 1983, early in her first field season, after the group of males and females she was following had adjusted to her presence.
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