Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.6 Squirrel monkeys can be found in the Neotropical rainforests, but their pop-
ulations are dwindling due to deforestation, as shown here in Bolivia.
(Photo courtesy of
Gareth Bennett.)
and flower nectar. Night monkeys are common and often seen near human
settlement.
Titi monkeys, sakis, and uakaris are a group of specialized diurnal, medium-size,
arboreal monkeys. They have bushy nonprehensile tails that hang down from tree
branches and are often visible from below. This group is restricted to the Amazon
Basin and the Guyanas. A new species of titi monkey, the Golden Palace monkey,
was discovered in 2005 along the border of Madidi National Park in Bolivia. The
winner of an Internet auction that raised funds for conservation named the monkey.
Spider, woolly, woolly spider, and howler monkeys are large monkeys with
well-developed prehensile tails. Spider and woolly monkeys typically swing from
their arms or tails. The spider monkey has elongated limbs and tail, and is the most
acrobatic of the group. It can leap as far as 30 ft (9-10 m). Howler monkeys are
slow or even sedentary. They have developed elaborate ways of communication
within the forest canopy, and their voices carry for at least 10 mi (16 km) through
the forest at dawn and at dusk. These large monkeys of the Neotropical rainforest
are hunted intensively for their meat, and most are rare or endangered. Much of
their habitat is now gone or threatened by deforestation and continued fragmenta-
tion, limiting their ability to travel in search of food or mates.
Tapirs are the only odd-toed ungulates (order Perissodactyla) in the Neotropi-
cal rainforest. Worldwide the family Tapiridae consists of just one genus with four
