Description

The common squirrel monkey is covered in short, soft, thick fur that is usually greenish grey, with white around its ears, face, and belly. Its black muzzle is almost hairless. The ears are similar in shape and position as humans. Like other primates, the common squirrel has front facing eyes, with well-developed eyelids. Its eyes function the way humans do, being adapted for daylight vision. It has well-developed fingers and thumbs as well as nimble feet that can grab branches as easy as its hands. Its long tail is not prehensile not used for gripping or hanging on to branches.

Life Cycle

The squirrel monkey is a highly social animal, living in troops of 70 or more individuals-the largest of any New World monkey. Because the males have little to do with there members, except during mating season, these bands are kept together by the female, starting around late June, males begin to fight for dominance in the troop. The higher-ranking males then court the females. Once pregnant, females begin to form a small group within the band. After gestation period of about 162 days, the female gives birth to a baby monkey weighing about a 100 grams, at this time, adult males are completely left out of the group by females they go off to form their own subgroups. Young males also form subgroups, and when they reach sexual maturity, they join their older male group sometimes having to fight for there spot. The common squirrel monkey baby clings to its mother's back for the first few weeks of its life. After about one year, it is completely independent. The female is able to reproduce at the age of about three, males at age five.

Where they live

The common squirrel monkey is a New World monkey, meaning it makes its home in South and Central America, in the upper Amazon Basin, Brazil, Columbia, Peru, and on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Panama.The common squirrel monkey is arboreal it lives in trees, usually near a source of water like a stream, it occasionally moves to the ground for food gathering. It is extremely agile and able to move through the treetop home at high speeds.

Food and Prey

The squirrel monkey is an omnivore, eating whatever it can catch among its favorites are small birds, fruit, tree gum, berries, nuts, flowers, and insects. The squirrel monkey eats few or no leaves In addition a decline in population because of hunting and animals such as ocelots, mountain lions, and harpy eagles prey upon deforestation, the common squirrel monkey.