Spider monkey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Spider monkey |
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| A black-headed spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps) using its prehensile tail. | |
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Atelidae
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Ateles E. Geoffroy, 1806
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Spider monkeys are New World monkeys, genus Ateles. They are small monkeys, well suited to living in trees. In fact, they rarely come down to the ground. These monkeys move quickly through trees by swinging and jumping from branch to branch.
Spider monkeys are found in rainforests in southern Mexico to the northern part of South America. Spider monkeys live in groups or bands of 10 to 40 monkeys. Every band lives in its own territory and one band of monkeys will not enter the territory of another band. Spider monkeys have one offspring per year. They live about between 20 to 27 years, or more.
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Diet
Spider monkeys eat fruit, nuts, leaves, and small eggs. Usually the leader female of the whole group is responsible for finding and gathering all the food for the rest of the group. When there is not enough food, they sometimes eat bark, or honey, or insects.
Physical description
Spider monkeys are extremely quick, and they have long, thin fingers with almost no hair at all. Unlike other monkeys, they use their tail much more than their fingers, and their tails are longer than their bodies. These tails can grasp and pick things up.
They have long, spindly limbs, which explains the spider monkey's common name. Their tails are fully prehensile, meaning they can pick things up with it, and they can swing from it. The tail, which may be up to 89 cm (35 in) long, is very flexible, with hairless tips and skin grooves similar to fingerprints. This adaptation to their strictly arboreal lifestyle serves as a fifth hand. They are clumsy on the ground.
Behavior
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Spider monkeys form loose groups, typically with 15 to 25 individuals, but sometimes up to 30 or 40. During the day, groups break up into subgroups. The size of subgroups and the degree to which they avoid each other during the day depends on food competition and the risk of predation. The average subgroup size is between 2 and 8 but can sometimes be up to 17 animals.
Spider monkeys communicate their intentions and observations using postures and stances. When a spider monkey sees a human approaching, it barks loudly similar to a dog. When a monkey is approached, it climbs to the end of the branch it is on and shakes it vigorously to scare away the possible threat. It shakes the branches with its feet, hands, or a combination while hanging from its tail. It may also scratch its limbs or body with various parts of its hands and feet. Seated monkeys may sway and make noise. Males and occasionally adult females growl menacingly at the approach of a human. If the pursuer continues to advance, the monkeys may break off live or dead tree limbs weighing up to 4 kilograms (8.8 lb) and drop them towards the intruder.
Spider monkeys are diurnal and spend the night sleeping in carefully selected trees. Groups are thought to be directed by a lead female, which is responsible for planning an efficient feeding route each day. Grooming is not as important to social interaction, owing perhaps to a lack of thumbs.
Spider monkeys have been observed avoiding the upper canopy of the trees for locomotion. One researcher speculated this was because the thin branches at the tops of trees do not support the monkeys as well.
At 107 grams (3.8 oz), the spider monkey brain is twice the size of the brain of a howler monkey of equivalent body size; this is thought to be a result of the spider monkeys' complex social system and their frugivorous diets, which consist primarily of ripe fruit from a wide variety (over 150 species) of plants. This requires the monkeys to remember when and where fruit can be found. The slow development may also play a role: the monkeys may live from 20 to 27 years or more, and females give birth once every 17 to 45 months. Gummy, presumably the oldest spider monkey in captivity, is presumed to have been born wild in 1962, resided at Fort Rickey Children's Discovery Zoo located in Rome, New York, and died at the age of 61, after living about twice as long as the average spider monkey.
Reproduction
The gestation period ranges from 226 to 232 days. Each female bears only one offspring on average, every three to four years.
Until six to ten months of age, infants rely completely on their mothers. Males are not involved in raising the offspring.
A mother carries her infant around her belly for the first month after birth. After this, she carries it on her lower back. The infant wraps its tail around its mother's and tightly grabs her midsection. Mothers are very protective of their young and are generally attentive mothers. They have been seen grabbing their young and putting them on their backs for protection and to help them navigate from tree to tree. They help the more independent young to cross by pulling branches closer together. Mothers also groom their young.
Male spider monkeys are one of the few primates who do not have a baculum.
Cultural depictions
Spider monkeys are found in many aspects of the Mesoamerican cultures. In the Aztec 260-day calendar, Spider Monkey (Nahua Ozomatli) serves as the name for the 11th day. In the corresponding Maya calendar, Howler Monkey (Batz) is substituted for Spider Monkey. In present-day Maya religious feasts, spider monkey impersonators serve as a kind of demonic clowns. In Classical Maya art, they are ubiquitous, often shown carrying cacao pods.
Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys features a spider monkey named Spydor who is the smallest of the crew.
Images for kids
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Spider monkey skeleton on display at The Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
See also
In Spanish: Monos araña para niños
