DESCRIPTION:
Size of a squirrel; yellowish-green fur; large round head; long, non prehensile tail; face is considered reminiscent of a human baby.

They are omnivores which eat insects when they are available but include fruit, flowers, and occasionally vertebrates in their diet when necessary or readily available

Female squirrel monkeys tend to reach maturity and begin breeding at around the age of 2.5-3 years of age. Squirrel monkey society is generally unified by the adult females because all age-sex classes except fully adult males have been shown to be more attracted to adult females than to any other age-sex class

Characterized by long limbs, digits with curved nails (not claws), palled not opposable and in some cases small or absent, in contrast to a halal that is large and strongly opposable. These monkeys range in size from small (275g) to moderately large (10 kg). They have long and well-furred tails. In some species the tails are prehensile, lacking fur on the underside at the tip and covered with soft, pliable skin. These monkeys are able to use their tails as an "extra arm," hanging by it while they feed or groom with their fore or hind limbs.

Squirrel Monkey's are a strictly an American group, currently found from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina. They have been in South America since at least the early Oligocene, when they probably arrived via over water rafting from Africa.