Interesting Facts About Spider Monkeys' Habitats

Range

• Spider monkeys' habitat is located in Central and South America and Mexico where the monkeys live in high primary forests. They live on coastlines, along the banks of the Amazon as far south as Bolivia and in forested mountain areas in the Andes.

Habitat Type

• Lowland rain forests, evergreen rain forests, mangrove rain forests and mountain forests are all home to spider monkeys. The monkeys mainly reside in the upper canopy of the forest, using prehensile tails and hook-shaped, thumbless hands to travel from branch to branch. Staying in the treetops also helps spider monkeys avoid their natural predators, which include big cats and snakes.

Diet and Behavior

• Spider monkeys search out fruit, seeds, nuts, foliage, bird eggs, aerial roots, honey and insects as they travel around their arboreal habitat. Fruit and seeds compose about 90 percent of the spider monkey's diet. Because of their seed-rich diet, spider monkeys contribute to their habitat by dispersing seeds, which helps keep the rain forest diverse and healthy. They eat their food as they find it, while climbing or hanging in the trees. Spider monkeys live and forage for food in groups, or troops, of about 30 females, males and babies. These groups occupy territories, which they will defend against other groups of spider monkeys.

Conservation

• In some areas, deforestation is rapidly shrinking the spider monkeys' habitat as people clear large areas of land for plantations.Some spider monkey species are critically endangered due to habitat loss, in addition to hunting by humans. People have hunted them heavily for food, wiping them out in many areas that are easily accessible to people. There are an estimated 2,000 spider monkeys left in the wild, as well as a number held in captivity in zoos.