Featured Animal: Spider Monkey

The spider monkey is found in the tropical jungles of South America, from Southern Mexico to Brazil. The spider monkey generally dos not enter the further southern regions of South America as the terrain becomes mountainous and not to the spider monkey's taste.

There are four different types of spider monkey, all of which are fairly large in size and get to around 50cm tall, plus the spider monkey's tail which can often grow longer than the spider monkey's body.

The spider monkey is thought to get it's name from the way the spider monkeys can be seen hanging in the trees. The spider monkey can often be seen with all four hands on separate branches, so the spider monkey looks like a spider's web. The spider monkey can also hang from branches by it's strong tail, which gives the spider monkey spider-like attributes.

The spider monkey mainly eats fruits and berries and spider monkeys are a thought to play a vital part in spreading the seeds of many plants throughout the South American rainforests. The spider monkey also eats insects and small reptiles for protein and also honey which the spider monkey finds it.

Due to the extensive hunting of the spider monkey from both humans and bigger jungle animals such as the jaguar and the crocodile, all four species of spider monkey are now considered to be endangered or critically endangered.

The spider monkey is often kept as an exotic pet worldwide and is one of the most popular species of pet monkey due to the spider monkey's looks and the spider monkey's character. Please don't keep spider monkeys as pets. Spider monkeys belong in the jungles were they come from and are on the verge of extinction, this process should not be helped.

Spider monkeys form groups of between 10 and 30 individuals which splits up during the day so that there is less competition for food. Unlike many other primates, it is the female spider monkeys that leave their original group to join new groups, rather than the male spider monkeys. Male spider monkeys are known to stay together throughout their lives.

Female spider monkeys breed every three to four years and when she is ready to, the female spider monkey chooses a male spider monkey from her group in which to mate with. After a gestation period of around 7 months, the female spider monkey will give birth to one baby spider monkey.

Baby spider monkeys completely rely on their mother until they are between 6 to 10 months old and are big enough and strong enough to make it on their own. Until then, the mother spider monkey carries her young on her tummy and then on her back in on order to keep them safe. Female spider monkeys are known to help their young when jumping in the trees and groom them too.