Spider Monkey Info
| DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT: | Golden spider monkeys live almost exclusively in trees, in Central America from Southern Mexico to Panama. |
| BEHAVIOR | Golden spider monkeys live in groups of 10-40.
The females have a more
active leading role than males. A troop's territory centers on a food supply. Each troop patrols its territory daily on the same routes, avoiding territories of others. The troop scares intruders away with rough barking and wild behavior displays. If this fails, they fragment into subgroups and run. They prefer retreat, so fights are rare. |
| REPRODUCTION and GROWTH | After a gestation period of 225-232 days, one young is born. The baby is carried on the mother's abdomen until itcan ride on her back. Infants spend much time playing. They explore, or chase, grapple, and jump on others. Themore playmates one has, the more likely he is to play. |
| DIET | Spider monkeys prefer a diet of 90% fruit and nuts. In the wild they sometimes rob bird nests, or obtain nectarfrom the dendrophytus blossoms that they tear open. |
| ENDANGERED | So many Spider monkeys have been shot for food that they are absent from much of their former range. They arevulnerable because they have low maturation and reproduction rates. Their habitat, mature rain forests, is beinglost to farming at the rate of 35,000 acres a day. |
