Spider Monkey Research Paper

My project animal is on the black-handed spider monkey. He can be found in the South American part of Tropic World at the Brookfield Zoo. He moves like a spider from tree to tree and is absolutely fascinating to look at.

The black-handed spider monkey has long, lanky arms and a gripping prehensile tail that allows them to move gracefully from branch to branch. There fingers are curved like a hook. The coat color is a light pale yellow-brown to reddish brown or black depending on the subspecies. There face is hairless with a medium-light unpigmented skin around the eyes, nose, and mouth. The color of their hands and feet is usually black. There tails are longer than their body. The life span of the black-handed spider monkey is about 27 years. The male monkeys weigh about 7.4 to 9 kilograms, the length of their body is 39 to 63 centimeters, and their tail length is 70 to 86 centimeters. The female spider monkeys weight is about 6 to 8 kilograms, their body length is 31 to 45 centimeters, and their tail length is 64 to 75 centimeters. The majority of their diet is 85 percent ripe fruit, but they eat young leaves and flowers. As well as nuts, seeds, insects, arachnids, and bird eggs.

This particular spider monkey varies throughout Central America in the countries including Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.

In El Salvador, there are only 3 percent remaining natural forest and has the smallest amount of protection areas. The subspecies of monkeys are limited to the mainland of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. They are found living in the upper levels of the canopy and large areas of primary forests. The current status of Geoffroy’s Spider Monkey is endangered. Endangered due to logging and burning of the rainforests.They are hunted for food and pet trade by most humans and other jungle animals. They suffered from habitat destruction through deforestation and conversion to agricultural

lands.
Many people are concerned for Geoffroy’s Spider Monkey and other spider monkeys. In order to make a change there are many conservative groups. For example, There is a species survival plan involves a cooperative breeding program between a number of zoos working together to ensure the survival of species. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) works to protect the rainforests they need to survive. One thing is that people can donate and support the WWF and help the spider monkeys. Some interesting facts I found were, the Black-handed Spider Monkeys are very noisy. They send a forth a variety of loud calls to hear for about 2000 meters above the canopy. They are very social animals they live in groups called troops they hug each other to express greeting and avoid confrontation and potential aggression. There a complex communication system that includes body language, chemical signals, facial expressions, and vocalizations. The most amazing thing that I found out is they have four fingers and no thumb.
One example of symbiotic relationships is a parasitic relationship. For example, a mosquito and the spider monkey. The mosquito is a parasite sucking the blood from the monkey in order to provide food for it’s young. The relationship does not kill the monkey, but it does harm it.