Monkeys     belong to the group of Primates and make up two families, the Callitricidae, the marmosets and tamarins and the Cebidae, which represents woolly, spider, howler, squirrel and capuchin monkeys among others. As member of the primates, the American monkeys have separate fingers with opposing thumbs, binocular vision, large brains and live in complex social groups. The New World Monkeys are furthermore all arboreal  and feed mostly on fruits, seeds and insects. In the Amazon monkeys are still fairly common but on the populous coast became rare because of habitat destruction, tropical forests yielding to agricultural purposes.   Pygmy Marmosets (picture taken near Yarina Lodge) are very small and shy animals living in trees near flooded areas or streams. They only occupy certain species of trees and like to feed (as do all other marmosets) on tree exudates. To get to the tree sap or resins, they bite small and shallow holes into the bark and visit then the trees in following days to feast on the exudates which gather in the bark wounds. They further supplement their diet with insects and occasionally fruits and nectar. Marmosets and Tamarins make up the family of Callitricidae and possess distinct features, which separates them from the other monkeys, the larger Cebidae. Apart from their smaller size, they have also long but non-prehensile tails, limbs with claws instead of nails and faces covered with a variety of long hairs.   Spider Monkey is one of the largest monkeys found in Ecuador. There exist 4 species of spider monkeys on the American continent with two of them found in the country, the brown-headed one in coastal regions and the white-bellied kind in the Amazon jungle. Spider monkeys got their name from their acrobatic leaps, stretching spider-like while jumping from branches to branches, often catching themselves with their long and prehensile tails, which is used like an extra 5th limb. They are social animals living in large bands of 20 divided in subgroups of 4 to 5 individuals, which gather fruits and eat together. They are diurnal animals living in the high crowns of the tropical trees, rarely coming to the bottom of the forest. As with many monkeys the dominant males have more than one female companion, which has one child every 4 to 5 years. After a pregnancy of 7 months, the child stay with its mother, riding on her back till it knows how to survive on its own. Spider Monkeys were and are still hunted for their delicious meat by Amazonian Indians, being for the natives an invaluable source of proteins. They are also kept as pets by Indians and other people. The young is taken then from the mother, which is often killed in the process. But the major threat to their survival is the ongoing deforestation of the tropical forests. That is the main reason why the brown-headed spider monkey is almost extinct, surviving barely in some small patches left of the coastal tropical forests. The white-bellied one is under pressure too but can still be found in sufficient numbers in remote and unpopulated regions of the Amazonian jungle.   Howler Monkeys  (pictures of Red Howler Monkeys taken in Pañacocha) are the most widely distributed monkeys on the American continent, ranging in diverse forest habitats in Central and South America as they can survive feeding on nutrient and sugar poor leaves and are therefore suited to many more habitats like other monkey species. In Ecuador they can be found in dry tropical and humid forests on the coast and in the Amazon rainforest. One of heir most important characteristic is their roar, which can be heard from 3 km away and is the loudest sound produced by any animal. Special vocal adaptations let them achieve that and hearing their roar is for many an unforgettable acoustic experience never forgotten. So of course they are more often heard than seen. Once approached they stop roaring and become very quiet.   There exist 2 species of Woolly Monkeys on the American continent with one of them found in the country, the Common Woolly Monkey in the Amazon jungle. It got its name from its thick and dense fur, which is yellowish-gray to blackish-brown. It has a big head with an almost hairless dark brown face, a strong prehensile tail and a protruding abdomen. Like all monkeys they are also social animals living in troops of 7 to 70 individuals and often mix with other related primates like the howler, capuchin or spider monkeys. They are diurnal, moving slowly among trees, eating mostly fruits but also seeds, insects and leaves. On the ground they are known to walk upright. After a gestation period of 5 months a single young is born, which is taken care by the mother till it becomes independent enough to be on its own. Young Wooly Monkeys or chorongos, which is their common Ecuadorian name, are caught to be sold as pets, their mothers often killed in the process. But the major threat to their survival is the ongoing deforestation of the tropical forests. Nowadays they only can be found in large numbers in remote and unpopulated regions of the Amazonian jungle.   One of the most distinct feature of the New World monkeys are their prehensile tail, which is used like a fifth limb for climbing, grabbing, etc... If a monkey can hang from its tail, it is a New World Monkey.   Squirrel monkeys live in large troops of up to 100 and associate also with other monkeys, like the Capuchin. They are tree dwellers but often descend to the forest bottom. Their diet consist of fruits, insects and sometimes small birds and reptiles. Females are higher in the group's hierarchy than males but do not fight for dominancy among each other. One baby is born after 175 days of pregnancy and holds on to its mother's hair right from birth, where it spends most of its time till it becomes independent after various months. It is the monkey with the largest brain in relation to its body size, weighing 1/9th of its total weight (compare that to man's brain weight of 1/16th in relation to its total weight). That might have been the reason why a saimiri was the first primate to survive a spaceflight in 1959 before man ever dared to travel outward. Those monkeys are also the most studied and tested in laboratories around the world. They have a high level of communication skills with some 26 different known calls. Squirrel Monkeys, locally known as barizos, are still found in larger numbers in the Amazonian rainforests but are susceptible to its habitat destruction. Thousands of them are caught every year and sold to the above mentioned laboratories or as pets. This small monkey is also a prey for larger wild animals, which hunt them for food.     Monkeys are very poor swimmers and therefore they cross rivers by jumping from one side to the other (photo shows squirrel monkey jumping across Pañayacu river). The dominant male of the troop chooses a high tree branching over the river and jumps from there to another lower tree branch on the other side. All other members of the troop then follow him by jumping precisely the same route. Once airborne they stretch out all their limbs to have more air updraft.   A troop of Capuchin Monkeys lives in the trees on the beach just outside Puerto Misahualli, a small town on the Upper Napo river and got accustomed to the presence of people. They can be observed in the nearby trees nursing their young, on the beach examining artificial objects and grooming themselves on the paved streets and around the market square.

Natural History Probably one ancestor monkey specie (instead of several different ones) arrived from Africa on the South American continent at around 25 to 40 million years ago. At that time South America was already an island continent and those founder monkeys could have arrived by island hopping or on vegetation rafts (as SA was still much closer to Africa or by way of North America by the same means). They evolved then in isolation and radiated into the many species which are presently known. The New World or platyrrhine monkeys differ from the living Old world or catyrrhine monkeys in several aspects. Their faces are flatter with shorter muzzles and their noses are much wider with the nostrils pointing to the side (and not downwards). They all are arboreal and have long prehensile tails which are used as a fifth limb (with the exception of some species) and aid enormously in climbing.        Ecuadorian Monkey Species       CALLITRICHIDAE Pygmy Marmoset Cebuella pygmaea Amazon Saddleback Tamarin Saguinus fuscicollis Amazon Black-mantle Tamarin Saguinus nigricollis Amazon Golden-mantle Tamarin Saguinus tripartitus Amazon   CEBIDAE Black Howler Monkey Alouatta palliata Coast Red Howler Monkey Alouatta seniculus Amazon Subtropical Night Monkey Aotus lemurinus Amazon Tropical Night Monkey Aotus vociferans Amazon White-bellied Spider Monkey Ateles belzebuth Amazon Brown-headed Spider Monkey Ateles fusiceps Coast Red or Dusky Titi Monkey Callicebus cupreus Amazon Black or Yellow-handed Titi Monkey Callicebus torquatus Amazon White-fronted Capuchin Monkey Cebus albifrons Amazon & Coast Brown Capuchin Monkey Cebus apella Amazon White-throated Capuchin Monkey Cebus capucinus Coast Common Woolly Monkey Lagothrix lagotricha Amazon Equatorial Saki Monkey Pithecia aequatorialis Amazon Common or Monk Saki Monkey Pithecia monachus Amazon Common Squirrel Monkey Saimiri sciureus Amazon        Mammal Vocabulary   Niche: place occupied by a species in its ecosystem. Adaptive radiation: evolution of a single specie into many species that ocupy diverse ways of life within the same geographical area. Evolutionary convergence: the increasing similarity during evolution of two or more unrelated species occupying the same niche by products of different adaptive radiations.