Since 2005 I have conducted research and community conservation programs in the cloud forests of Pacific Ecuador and northeastern Peru. My aim has been the conservation of primates and Andean ecosystems. In this thesis I aim to update knowledge of the conservation ecology of Peru’s endemic primates and relate this to the broader context of montane forests and primates in general. This thesis is based on 11 publications resulting from my research and conservation work. With each publication, I help to fill in gaps in knowledge of plant and animal ecology at high altitudes. In this thesis I put the results of my research in the context of the primatological and conservation literature. Building on the central themes of how conditions at high elevations and in degraded habitat affect primate ecology and conservation and how primates have adapted to natural and anthropogenic pressures. The major questions raised by my work are what implications do conditions at high elevation sites have for primate species? and how do species adapt to the natural and anthropogenic extinction pressures they face? This thesis introduces themes of primate conservation biology, cloud forests, political ecology and habitat conservation as they relate to Peru and in particular Peru’s cloud forests and endemic primate species. I critically examine the methods I used in my research and how they apply to our understanding of primate ecology and conservation, discussing similarities and differences between my studies and other species and habitats.