Spider Monkeys

Spider monkeys live in the tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Peru, Bolivia, and central Brazil. With four lanky, spindly limbs and long prehensile tails, which they use like a powerful fifth hand, these large and unusually nimble New World monkeys swing gracefully from one tree branch to another (a maneuver known as brachiation) in their daytime search for fruit—the mainstay of their diets. Spider monkeys have coarse hair; narrow, hook-like hands that lack thumbs; and small, hairless faces. In the wild, these social monkeys form groups as large as two dozen individuals; when threatened, they attempt to scare off intruders with vocalizations that may sound like anything from human shrieks to a dog’s bark and a horse’s whinny. There are seven species of spider monkey, two of which are designated as critically endangered due to such threats as human hunting and logging.