Spider Monkeys - General Characteristics, The Appearance Of The Four Species, Social Behavior, Diet, In Captivity
ateles tails prehensile cebidae
Spider monkeys are slender, medium-sized monkeys with long limbs and very long tails. They live in trees, rarely coming down to the jungle floor. They are very adept at moving around in trees with the help of their prehensile tails; "prehensile" is a term that means their tails are well adapted for holding on to objects. These monkeys inhabit a territory ranging from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.
These New World monkeys are classified in the family known as Cebidae monkeys or "typical South American monkey." Within the Cebidae family, there are five subfamilies, consisting of 10 genera and 34 species. Spider monkeys are in the subfamily called Atelinae and the genus Ateles, meaning "imperfect" because these monkeys have very small or absent thumbs. There are four species of spider monkeys: 1. Central American spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi); 2. Brown-headed spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps); 3. Long-haired spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth); 4. Black spider monkey (Ateles paniscus), sometimes called the Black-handed spider monkey.
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The head and the body length of spider monkeys ranges from 13-23 in (34-59 cm). Their tails are longer, ranging between 24-36 in (61-92 cm). The sexes are about the same size, but the males can be fairly easily determined because of their noticeably longer canine teeth. The arms, hands, legs, and feet are all very long and thin, as are their bodies. Interestingly, their tails, which often act as a…
Spider monkeys are extremely social animals. In fact, if one is kept alone in captivity, it can easily die of loneliness unless its owner gives it a great deal of attention. In the wild, these monkeys tend to congregate in groups of 40–50, although they break up into smaller groups during the course of the day. Each large group has its own territory, and members of the group patrol it daily…
When in captivity, their high-fruit diet makes spider monkeys fairly easy to feed. In fact, they are convenient for many zoos to keep because they eat basically the same diet as capuchin monkeys. However, they require some special care if they are to thrive in captivity. They must be kept in groups to allow them to interact socially. If possible, one male should be kept in a group with several fem…
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