Squirrel Monkey

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Range:
Central America: parts of Panama and Costa Rica
South America: encompasses Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil

Habitat:
Tropical rainforests, tropical deciduous forests, cultivated areas (usually settling along rivers and streams)

Size:
Body Length: 10-14 in; Tail Length: ~16 in; Weight: 1-3 lbs

Young:
Usually 1 young

Gestation:
152-168 days

Diet (wild):
Omnivore: fruits, nuts, insects, spiders, young birds, and bird eggs

Diet (zoo):
Leaf eater biscuit, primate diet, fruits, vegetables, meal worms, and hard boiled egg

Life spans (wild):
12-20 years.

Life spans (captivity):
15-25 years.

Status:
Listed as a Species of Special Concern

Threats:
Habitat loss, illegal hunting, capturing for pets, and medical research

Anatomy/Physiology:
They usually have white fur around the eyes, ears, throat and sides of the neck. The top of the head ranges in color from black to grayish, and the back, forearms, hands and front feet are reddish or yellow. Their shoulders and hind feet are grayish, while their underside varies from white to yellow. They have a bi-colored tail with a black tip. The skin on their lips and around their nostrils is black and almost hairless. Their thighs are shorter than their lower legs to give tem more jumping force.

Social/Family units:
They live in bands of 12-100 individuals. The band is broken into subgroups; the male section, the female and infant section, and the juvenile section. The females dominate the bands with the mother and young forming the core of each band and the males are on the outskirts and only mingle with the females during breeding season.

Habits:
Mostly arboreal, they seldom come to the ground due to danger form predators. They have a safety in numbers philosophy. They often eat in large groups and it is almost impossible for larger primates to chase them away from the food. They are not territorial and sometimes different bands will come together to feed.

Communication:
They are usually quiet, but they can make a loud high-pitched cry when they are alarmed. They also distribute a musky glandular secretion throughout their fur to mark their territory, to leave a trail for other troop members to follow, or to deter hunters from killing them for food.

Defensive/Aggressive behavior:
When an alarm call is given the females and young become quite while the males investigate.

Prey items:
Bird eggs and small insects.

Predators:
Small cats, bird of prey, and snakes

Locomotion:
Their tail is not prehensile, but used for balance when traveling and feeding. They are agile and are good jumpers.

Activity:
Diurnal.

Any interesting story/fact:
Juveniles are born with a semi-prehensile tail, but loose the ability in adulthood. They are so agile that they make little to no noise when they jump through the trees. They can leap up to 8 ft in the trees.