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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 1
PRIMATE DISTRIBUTION AROUND THE GLOBE
Apes
The 14 species of apes are all Old World primates and range through the tropical forests of equatorial Africa and Asia. Gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos live in central and west Africa, while the gibbons and orangutans live in southeast Asia.
Monkeys
Monkeys are the most widespread and numerous of all primates, ranging through the tropical areas of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. Monkeys can also live at higher latitudes than can other primates; they range as far south as South Africa and as far north as Japan.
Prosimians
Prosimians range widely over much of Africa and southern Asia. They share many habitats with Old World monkeyc but, because the two groups fill different niches, they do not generally compete. The greatest number of prosimial species live on the island of Madagasca off the coast of southeast Africa.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 2
THE WORLD OF PRIMATES
In many ways primates are the most amazing group of animals in the world. As animals go, they are a diverse bunch--some as small as a hamster, others as large as a sumo wrestler. Some primates see only in black and white; others see just about as we do, and many see better in the dark than human beings can. Primates eat anything in sight--some are vegetarian, and some are principally carnivores, eating a variety of animals, from insects to vertebrates such as reptiles and mammals. No matter which primate you study, it is bound to amaze you.
When people think of primates they usually picture monkeys swinging and calling through the treetops of the Amazon, or chimpanzees foraging for food in the heart of an African forest. While these images are good examples of primates, they are only small pieces of the much bigger primate world.
There are 233 species in the mammalian order of primates, and these include more than just monkeys and apes. To begin to understand this amazing group of animals, scientists classify them, or break them into separate groups, based on their similarities and differences.
There are 14 species of apes, ranging in size from 1 2-pound (5-kg) gibbons to 600-pound (272-kg) gorillas. Human beings also are classified as apes.
There are 158 species of monkeys, ranging from the slightly less than 8-ounce (227-g) pygmy marmoset of the rain forests of South America to the mandrill of Africa, which can weigh over 100 pounds (45 kg).
In addition to monkeys and apes, the primate order includes 61 species of prosimians-the lemurs from Madagascar, the bush babies and pottos from Africa, and the lorises and tarsiers from Asia.
Despite variations in size, shape, and other features, primate species share some characteristics that give us clues about their common ancestry and their adaptive evolution. Primate locomotion, or way of moving about, for example, is different from that of other animals. Nearly all primates are agile climbers; they can grasp with their hands and feet and have flat nails, rather than claws. Primates have eyes on the front of their heads and binocular vision that provides the depth perception they need to udge distances as they swing through trees or chase after prey.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 3
Some apes are greater than others. The four largest species, gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos, are called great apes. Smaller, monkey-sized gibbons and siamangs are classified as lesser apes.
The 14 ape species share many traits. Their arms are longer than their legs--a characteristic most obvious in gibbons and orangutans whose arms, in proportion to their bodies, are the longest of all the apes. Since these two species are the most arboreal, or tree dwelling, of the apes, they need longer arms for climbing and swinging. Apes have thick hair over their bodies. Most species live in dense rain forests, and their fur acts like a sweater or raincoat, insulating them from temperature changes and protecting them from rain.
But the most notable traits of the apes, and the ones that have captivated people for centuries, are their similarities to humans. From their heads to their toes, apes are more like humans than they are different.
Apes' eyes are on the front of their heads, providing binocular vision for greater depth perception. They have keen eyesight and expressive faces that display various emotions. Like people, apes have 32 teeth and large heads and brains.
Similarities in body shape between apes and humans are even more obvious. We all have two arms and legs, each with five fingers or toes. Apes' hands are similar to humans', with thumbs that allow grasping and manipulation of a variety of oblects. Apes and humans are both able to walk upright on two legs.
As we observe apes--whether at a zoo, in a wildlife documentary, or in the wild--without doubt, there are times we recognize the remarkable resemblance between ourselves and these distant cousins.
Gorillas are probably the most famous of the great apes. Unfortunately, gorillas are often famous for the wrong reasons. Hollywood movies like King Kong and other adventure or horror films and books have given gorillas a bad name. Many people believe that lust because gorillas are huge, they are dangerous.
While it is true that gorillas are very large primates, they are actually gentle giants--most of the time. When threatened, or when defending territory, an adult male gorilla can be very aggressive.
All gorillas belong to the same species, but there are three distinct subspecies: the eastern and the western lowland gorillas, and the mountain gorilla. Lowland gorillas are the ones you see in zoos. In the wild they live in central and west Africa, in the rain forests of the Atlantic coastal nations of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon, and east along the equator through the countries of Congo, Central African Republic, and eastern Zaire.
The mountain gorilla's range is at altitudes of 5,450-12,500 feet (1,662-3,813 m) in the mountains of Zaire, Rwanda, and Uganda. It is one of the most endangered animals in the world, with only a few hundred animals surviving in the wild. The mountain gorilla is similar in form to the lowland gorilla, but has longer hair on the head and arms. Its jaws and teeth are longer than its cousins', but its arms are shorter.
With thumbs on both their hands and feet, gorillas easily grasp and manipulate their food. They eat ripe fruit, in season, but their main diet consists of leaves, bark, vines, and bamboo. A gorilla's head appears so big because of large muscles on top of the skull that power the jaws so they can chew tough vegetation.
Juvenile gorillas are light enough to swing through tree branches, but adults typically move about on all fours, walk ing flat-footed on their hind feet and on the knuckles of their hands. During the day, gorillas move constantly in search of food. About one hour before dusk, they settle in to build a nest to sleep in. These nests are like the sleeping pads campers use to insulate themselves from the moist ground. By bending down the plants in a 4- to 5-foot (1- to 1.5-rn) circle, gorillas create soft, dry nests in which to rest until morning.
Are your parents beginning to show some gray hair? In people that's a sign of aging, but in gorillas, gray hair is a sign of dominance. Mature male gorillas are called "silverbacks" because of a silvery gray saddle of hair on their backs. Gorillas live in extended family groups ranging in size from 5 to 30 individuals, but the typical family group is fewer than a dozen. A mature silverback male is the group's leader, and decides where the group forages during the day and sleeps at night.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 4
ORANGUTANS
The name orangutan comes from an Indonesian word meaning "man of the forest." Unlike other ape species, orangutans tend to be solitary, living alone most of the year. Scientists believe this may be because orangutans are the biggest animals that feed principally on fruit, and so they need large ranging areas to supply the great many figs, durians (large, tasty but foul-smelling tropical fruits), and other fruits that make up their diet. Since fruits ripen at different times, orangutans spend most of each day foraging through the trees.
Researchers have learned that orangutans feed on fruits and leaves of 300 different plants; yet food is not always plentiful. From December through February--monsoon season in the forests of Sumatra and Borneo where orangutans live--the only foods available are leaves, bark, seeds, shoots, and occasional prey, such as small reptiles, birds, and invertebrates.
The orangutan is the most arboreal of the great apes, able to climb easily through the treetops with its extremely long arms, and is very strong. Males are much stronger than even the biggest linemen in the National Football League-- although they weigh only about half the amount. Like people, orangutans vary greatly in size. Adult females generally weigh from 88 to 100 pounds (40 to 45 kg); adult males are proportionately larger all over, and weigh between 130 and 200 pounds (59 and 91kg).
Orangutans once ranged through most of southern China and all of Southeast Asia, but as the human population has grown over the last few hundred years, the clearing of the forests for agriculture has greatly reduced the places orangutans can live. Today there are only two subspecies of the animal--the Bornean orangutan that lives on the island of Borneo, and the Sumatran orangutan that lives in northern Sumatra.
The orangutan subspecies are closely related, but there are some physical differences. The Sumatran orangutan is thinner and taller than the Bornean and has longer hair. But the greatest difference is seen in their faces. The adult male Bornean orangutan has large puffy flaps of bare skin curving along both sides of its head, from forehead to cheeks. The Sumatran orangutan sports a long mustache and has a more humanlike face. Young orangutans spend up to four years with their mothers, often clinging to the adult animals as they forage. Unlike more social apes, orangutan fathers live alone most of the time and rarely interact with their young.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 5
CHIMPANZEES
Chimpanzees are the most social of the apes and live in groups of at least a dozen individuals. Extended family groups may sometimes include as many as 100 animals. The chimpanzee is often called the common chimpanzee because of its wide range, over more than a dozen countries in central and west Africa. Chimpanzees live north of the Zaire River from Tanzania west to Senegal.
Chimpanzees are mostly herbivores, feeding from as many as 20 different plant species a day and more than 300 in a year. However, they are not strict vegetarians. Although meat makes up less than 5 percent of their diet, chimpanzees do sometimes kill and eat monkeys, young antelope, and other small animals. Chimpanzees use tools, such as grasses and thin sticks, to poke termites out of holes or to pry honey from beehives. Another tool invention is a "leaf sponge " that they make from scrunched-up leaves and use to get water out of small holes in rocks or trees.
Chimpanzees vary greatly in size and weight and, like many animals, are often thinner in the wild than in captivity. Wild female chimps average about 66 pounds (30 kg) and males about 88 pounds (40 kg). In zoos they may weigh twice as much. They typically live 40 to 45 years.
Very little was known about chimpanzees or any of the great apes until the 1960s when Jane Goodall, a young British researcher, began studying chimps in Tanzania. Over the following decades, her work became the longest behavioral research prolect ever conducted, and it has contributed greatly to our understanding of the behavior of chimpanzees and that of our early ancestors as well. Among the discoveries Dr. Goodall documented were the chimpanzees' use of tools, meat eating, chimpanzees, and the making of leafy nests in which to sleep.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 6
BONOBOS
Bonobos were once called pygmy chimpanzees because their bodies are lighter, with narrower chests, than those of the common chimpanzee. Now bonobos are recognized as a separate species of great ape, and some scientists believe they are as different from common chimpanzees as they are from gorillas. Little is known about the species due to their isolated habitat in the swamp forests of central Zaire, but research is now under way.
The two species--chimpanzees and bonobos--behave very differently. The bonobos live in smaller family groups and spend most of their time up in trees. They have never been documented to be tool users, but studies in captivity show they may be the most intelligent of all nonhuman animals. Studies of their genetic makeup have shown that bonobos are the species most closely related to humans.
There are physical differences between bonobos and chimps, too. Besides being less stocky than chimps, bonobos have smaller teeth and proportionately longer arms. Bonobos are born with black faces which stay black throughout their lives. Chimpanzees have pink faces when they are young, which turn black as they mature. Bonobos have parts down the center of their hair, and their hair seems to stick out on the sides. As common chimpanzees age they often lose the hair on the front of their heads.
The most notable thing about bonobos is that cooperation, not conflict, rules their society. Bonobos frequently touch each other and share food. They are sexually active throughout the year, and field biologists believe this activity is a form of communication and peacemaking that reduces aggression in the group--in addition to ensuring the continuation of the species.
Like most primates, bonobos are under pressure, due to the clearing of their rain forest home and exploitation by poachers and the pet trade. People living in central Zaire can earn more money by selling an infant bonobo for a pet than an entire family can make in a year of farming. Civil war in Zaire has left people hungry and, as they struggle to survive, the bonobo is now hunted for food. Brad and Trouble
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 7
GIBBONS AND SIAMANGS
Gibbons and siamangs are known as lesser apes as they ate smaller thanof the great apes--the gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos. Siamangs, for example, are the largest of the group and weigh only 15 to 23 pounds (7 to 10kg). Unlike other apes, there is little size difference between male and female gibbons. But the males and females look very different. The first time you see a pair of white-cheeked gibbons you might think they are different animals. The males are black with white cheek patches, while the females are blonde.
All 9 gibbon species come from Asia, ranging from southern China through most of Southeast Asia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Typical gibbon habitat is the tropical rain forest in which the animals spend most of their time high in the trees. Gibbons are built for climbing, with lightweight bodies, extremely long arms, and elongated fingers and thumbs for grasping. They are the most arboreal of the apes and swing so quickly from the tree branches--in a style of locomotion called brachiating--that they seem to be flying. These agile animals also leap up to 30 feet (9 m) from tree to tree. They eat fruits, leaves, and small animals they catch in the treetops. They are so quick that they sometimes manage to snatch birds out of the air.
Gibbons and siamangs are among the most vocal animals in the world. Their "long calls"--a series of elaborate vocalization--ring through the jungle to establish their territories. White-cheeked gibbons' sirenlike calls can be heard for miles. And siamangs inflate throat sacs as large as their heads to amplify their loud barking calls. Unlike the larger apes, gibbons spend most of their days and nights in the rain forest canopy, as high as 180 feet (55 m) above the ground. Living high in the canopy and able to nearly fly through the trees, gibbons are threatened by few predators, except for eagles.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 8
MONKEYS
Monkeys make up the largest, most varied group of primates. They range in size from the nearly half-pound (227-g) pygmy marmoset of the Amazon to the 110-pound (50-kg) mandrill of West Africa. All monkeys are built for life in the trees. With hands and feet that grasp branches, and eyes on the front of their heads to provide binocular vision and depth perception, monkeys are well adapted to live aloft. But not all monkeys are alike.
Monkeys are divided into two main groups: the monkeys of the Eastern Hemisphere, traditionally called Old World monkeys, and those of the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, called New World monkeys.
Diana monkeys thrive in the high canopy level of the rain forest, up to 140 feet (43 m) above the forest floor. They live in medium-sized groups with a single adult male. Their extremely long tails help them balance when leaping from tree to tree. Their cheek pouches enable them to collect and carry fruit along as they forage through the treetops.
The Sykes' monkey, a guenon, is one of the most common primates in Mt. Kenya National Park, a popular tourist destination. It is a subspecies of the African Blue Monkey. Sykes' monkeys travel in large troops of 20 to 40 animals and frequently raid campsites or human dwellings for food but may also abscond with books, cameras, toothbrushes, or anything else in sight.
Sykes' monkeys are arboreal and feed on fruit, flowers, and insects, and sometimes prey on animals as large as galagos.
Patas monkeys live in equatorial Africa, from Senegal west to Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. These ground-dwelling guenons have reddish brown fur on their heads, backs, and tails, with white areas on the neck, belly, and limbs. Their faces are dark with heavy brows above the eyes.
Although monkeys are famous for their tree-climbing ability, some species, including the patas monkey, prefer to stay at ground level. They feed on a variety of foods, including acacia fruit, galls, leaves, tree gum or sap, insects, lizards, and birds' eggs. The females are dominant in patas monkey groups, with males joining the troop only during breeding season.
The vervet monkey of Africa, another guenon, has been so intensively studied in the wild that researchers can distinguish its calls to warn of avian predators such as eagles, terrestrial predators such as leopards, and even the call it uses to warn of a nearby snake. Vervets live in large social groups among the acacia trees and rivers of East Africa.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 9
The Japanese macaque, also known as the Japanese snow monkey, lives in the northernmost islands of Japan, farther north than any other nonhuman primate. This hardy creature is sometimes seen sitting in natural hot springs during the winter, with its head and face coated with snow and ice. The thick fur on its head holds in body heat and keeps its ears from freezing. Macaques live in medium to large groups made up of several adult males, females, and young. Females tend to stay within the troop in which they are born. Males move from group to group after they reach sexual maturily.
Rhesus macaques are among the most studied animals in the world -- not just in the wilds of India and Asia where they live, but in laboratories throughout the world. They, like some other primates, share many traits with humans and are often the subjects in medical research. The Rh factor in human blood gets its name from the Rh in Rhesus macaque.
Rhesus macaques live in the forest and forest edges of southern Asia. Males are the dominant members in a troop, guarding against intruders but not helping in raising the young. Field studies have shown that the female macaques in a troop are ranked in an order inherited from their mothers at birth.
Gelada baboons inhabit the grasslands and semiarid regions of Ethiopia in st Africa. Baboons live in large groups and within a gelada baboon there are smaller groups made up of one male with a harem of females their offspring. Males without harems live in bachelor groups within the troop.
Gelada baboons look very dramatic, with manes of long black fur hanging over their heads and shoulders. A patch of bare red skin on the chest and canine teeth are displayed when two males compete for dominance. When ready to fight, the males flip back their upper lips to expose their formidable teeth in a display of aggression. The display may chase away the competing gelada, without any real fight.
Colobus monkeys live in large family groups of 20 or more, and this group life helps provide safety. Eagles and humans are the two main predators, and the communal living style provides more sentries to keep watch. While nearly all monkeys and apes use similar early warning systems, it is especially vital for colobus monkeys who are sometimes eaten by chimpanzees.
The black-and-white colobus monkey of east and central Africa is the most dramatic looking of the three colobus species. Because of its long, shaggy, white tail, and black-and-white markings, the skins have long been sought for capes and headdresses used in traditional African ceremonies. In the nineteenth century, the monkey was hunted to near extinction when its fur became a fashion rage in Europe. Fortunately, today international trade agreements and laws prohibit the import of endangered species' products into most nations.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 10
The douc langur displays an interesting trait called "aunting" behavior; related females share the responsibility of feeding and caring for the young. In contrast, if a strange male langur enters a group, the newcomer sometimes kills existing offspring. This causes the females to enter into their breeding cycle, and thus ensures the parenthood of future offspring.
Like other leaf-eating monkeys, the douc langur is entirely vegetarian, or herbivorous. Leaves are its principal food, with fruits, flowers, and seeds when available. It is an agile climber, and often ventures down to the forest floor when foraging.
The douc langur lives in dense rain forests of the southeast Asian peninsula. While all tropical forest primates are under pressure from habitat loss, the douc langur faced exaggerated forest destruction caused by defoliants used in the Vietnam War.
The proboscis monkey of Borneo is named for the elongated nose, or probiscus, of the male, that has led some viewers to call it the 'Jimmy Durante" monkey, for a famous, large-nosed comedian. Females have snub noses similar to those of the golden monkey.
Male proboscis monkeys are the largest of the leaf eaters. They weigh up to 51 pounds (23 kg) and outweigh females two pounds to one. They inhabit mangrove swamps and lowland river areas in Borneo rain forests, and have been seen swimming from point to point when traveling, an ability rare among nonhuman primates.
The golden monkey, also called the golden snub-nosed monkey, lives in cold mountain regions of mainland China. Golden monkey troops may be the largest of any arboreal monkey--often numbering over 600 animals. Females outnumber males within a troop, but it is the duty of the males to guard against predators.
As leaf eaters, golden monkeys feed frequently through the day and eat large quantities. They are an endangered species and are protected from hunters by Chinese law. The animals are so prized that the Chinese government has given them "most protected status." Only two other species have that designation, the giant panda and the takin, a hoofed animal.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 11
NEW WORLD MONKEYS
In the tropical forests of Central and South America live the 51 species of New World monkeys, divided into two groups-the marmosets and tamarins, and a second group, the cebid monkeys.
Marmosets and tamarins are the smallest monkeys in the world. They range from the tiny pygmy marmoset to the lion tamarins, which still weigh only about a pound and a half (.7 kg). Marmosets and tamarins make up the primate fam- ily called Callitrichidac, which is derived from the Greek words kallos meaning "beauty," and thrix, meaning "hair." And many of these monkeys do indeed have elaborate hairstyles and beautiful fur.
Cebid monkeys, the second group of Western Hemisphere monkeys, are some of the most familiar primates in the world. Most of the old-time performing and organ-grinders' monkeys were cebids. But there are 30 different species of cebid monkeys in the tropical and subtropical forests of Central and South America. They range from the 1- to 2-pound (.5- to .9-kg) squirrel monkey to the 26-pound (1 2-kg) muriqui, or woolly-tailed spider monkey of Brazil.
New World monkeys are the only primates with prehensile tails; and only spider monkeys, woolly monkeys, howler monkeys, and the muriqui have this amazing adaptation. The grasping tail is like a fifth hand and allows the monkey more freedom of movement and thus greater access to food resources.
Tamarins and marmosets are best known for two distinguishing features: their small size and their strange hairstyles. But these little monkeys have other remarkable characteristics, too. With colorful, silky coats, marmosets and tamarins are the most beautiful New World monkeys. They are among the few primates that regularly produce multiple offspring (usually twins), and all members of the group, including fathers, give the young extensive care.
Tamarins and marmosets live in family groups of up to 15 individuals, made up of a breeding pair and offspring. Older siblings stay in the group, helping to rear newborns. Studies have shown that young tamarins learn their parenting skills, unlike dogs and cats whose parenting behavior is instinctive.
The unusual crest of the cotton-top tamarin of northwestern Colombia makes the animal look like a living cotton swab. It is 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm), with a tail of equal or greater length.
Cotton-top tamarin vocalizations are not simply chirps or squeaks, but follow a basic syntax, or language. Researchers have determined that infant cotton-tops go through a babbling stage and, as they mature, learn the 40 different calls this species uses.
Today the cotton-top tamarin lives only in isolated forest patches in Colombia. Fewer than 2,500 may be left in the wild, and that number is declining, as over 2,000 square miles (5,180 sq km) of rain forest are destroyed every year in Colombia alone.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 12
In 1519 the golden lion tamarinwas observed by Antonio Pigafefta, a Jesuit priest traveling around the world with the explorer Magellan.He described the species as "beautiful simian-like cats similar to small lions."The "lion" name has stuck ever since.Although all lion tamarins have thick golden manes, only the golden lion tamarin is a rich butterscotch color over its whole body.
The species once ranged through lowland coastal forests in the state of Rio de Jeniero in Brazil. But the trees it depends on have been being cleared since the arrival of Europeans in the fourteenth century. Today the golden lion tamarinis one of the most endangered primates in South America, surviving in spotty fragments of forest in eastern coastal Brazil. A worldwide effort has been mounted to protect the remaining habitat and save the species.
The golden-headed lion tamarin is closely related to the more famous golden lion tamarin, but has a black body below the characteristic golden head. It comes from a different region of Brazil-the humid coastal forests ofthe state of Bahia.Lion tamarins, including the golden-headed, have long, thin hands with which they reach into tree cracks and crevices to grab insects. Golden-headed lion tamarins live in groups of 2 to 11 individuals. At night the entire group sleeps together in a tree hollow.
The emperor tamarin, with its odd, drooping mustache, lives in extended family groups of 2 to 10 individuals in the Amazonian regions of southeast Peru, northwest Bolivia, and southwest Brazil. The mustache is an ornament, or a way to show off. Young emperor tamarins have short mustaches that grow longer when the animal reaches breeding age.
The squirrel-sized emperor tamarin eats fruits and drinks flower nectar when available, but feeds primarily on insects it pounces on like a cat. A troop of this species often mixes with a group of saddle-back tamarins, and the animals cooperate to defend a shared territory.
The pygmy marmoset creates-in a way-its own chewing gum. Pygmy marmosets use their specialized teeth to gouge holes in tree bark and then return day after day to feed on the sap, or gum, that seeps from the wound.
Pygmy marmosets live in small social groups of 5 to 10 individuals. Although sometimes found in mature tropical forest habitat, pygmy marmosets usually live in riverside and seasonally flooded forests where their tree gum sources are abundant.
Pygmy marmosets are diurnal and live in the undersiory of the tropical forest, below the 66-foot (20-m) level of the trees. They range through the Upper mazon region of South America, east of the Andes, in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil.
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PRIMATES APES, MONKEYS, PROSIMIANS by Thane Maynard part 13
Scientists classify Goeldi's monkey, also known as the Callimico, in a separate family due to differences between it and other small neotropical monkeys. or example, unlike marmosets and tamarins, Goeldi's monkeys produce single offspring rather than twins.
Glossy black from head to tail, Goeldi's monkey lives in dense undergrowth n upland tropical forests of the Upper Amazon regions of Brazil, northern Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. It feeds on fruits, insects, spiders, lizards, and snakes.
The white-faced saki is also known as the Gulanon saki since it lives north of the Amazon River in the region that includes the South American countries of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Its name comes from the bright white coloring on the male's face. The rest of the male's body is covered with thick, glossy black fur. Females are mottled gray and brown all over, with yellowish brown mustaches. Infant sakis look just like their mothers until maturity and so can be camouflaged by the adult's fur. By the age of one month, saki babies can be identified as male or female.
The white-faced saki prefers mature primary forests where it feeds on fruits and seeds. It travels by taking springing leaps from branch to branch, and also hops on its hind legs without using its hands.
The muriqui1 or woolly-tailed spider monkey, is the most endangered New World primate. It lives in moist rain forests in southeastern coastal Brazil but, unfortunately, only about 2 percent of its original forest habitat still stands. Perhaps only 300 to 400 muriquis remain in the wild today.
Muriquis live in small groups of up to 8 monkeys, but these are not family groupings. Usually either all males, or females with young, the groups communicate with piercing screams, barks, and chattering sounds. Muriquis are non-territorial and travel with the availability of food.
The white-fronted capuchin lives in groups of from 2 to 24 animals in a wide range of habitats, including dry and moist tropical forests and mangrove areas, through most of Central America from Belize south to northwest Colombia. These capuchins are an active species, using their prehensile tails as they climb from branch to branch, foraging noisily throughout the day. They often live near human settlements and are notorious crop raiders.
Red howler monkeys live in the tropical forests of northern South America. They travel in groups of 5 to 7 animals, and feed on a variety of leaves and fruits through the course of the year.
Howler monkeys are famous for their vocalizations. Their choruses of loud howls or roars may last many minutes, and are heard most frequently at dawn, in the early evening, or during thunderstorms. Although noisy, red howler monkeys are slow moving, relatively inactive creatures with limited territorial needs. However, if threatened by predators or by human researchers, howler monkeys will drop fruits and branches and even defecate on the intruders.
The night monkey, sometimes called the owl monkey because of its large eyes, is the only nocturnal monkey in the world. It has a very wide range, from Panama to northern Argentina. Night monkeys live in small groups of 2 to 5 individuals and feed on fruits, leaves, and insects and, occasionally, small mammals, reptiles, or birds. They are known for their low hooting calls-like the sound of a beating heart.
Night monkeys occupy various habitats inside their range, from the wettest rain forest to the savannah, or pampas, and even some dry scrub areas. By day they sleep in tree hollows or hidden in thick vegetation. Night monkeys are one of the most common primates near human seftiements.
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