A DESCRIPTIVE PROJECT
______________________________________________________________________
Basic Monkey Facts
INTRO
I am doing a science fair project on spider
monkeys. They are primates which means they have fingernails, teeth and 5
fingers, but in the case of spider monkeys they only have 4 fingers. Spider
monkeys are new world monkeys, so they are not as smart as
old world monkeys, but still very intelligent. In this paper I will try
to explain a little basic information about spider monkeys. Most of the
information besides this research paper I learned observing the spider
monkeys at the reserve near my house.
DESCRIPTION
Spider monkeys are
black with white stomachs. They have long tails and limbs
compared to their bodies. Their hands have only four fingers, and so
they are limited in many ways. They cannot do the pincer grasps so if they want
to pick an object off the ground they must scoop it up using their hand as a
scooper. Spider monkeys have the most prehensile tail of
any mammal. They use their tails for holding things, hanging, balance
and swinging.
THEIR PLACE IN THE ECOSYSTEM
Flowers and species
are helped by spider monkeys. One way that spider monkeys help flowers
is when they stick in their black faces to lick nectar, pollen is rubbed
on their faces. Then if a spider monkey goes to another flower for nectar it will
spread the pollen. A way that spider monkeys help other species is by
eating small grubs and keeping down the insect population. Spider monkeys
also provide good cuisine for jaguars. Spider monkeys also help biologists as
they are an indicator species.
INTELLIGENCE
I have observed spider monkeys display many signs of
intelligence. Even though they are not as smart as chimps and
orangutans, they are still intelligent creatures. For example, I observed
a spider monkey Elder with a banana and almost ten coatis started
attacking it for the banana. The spider monkey hid the banana in a tree
and laughed at the coatis as they tried to find it. Spider monkeys are the
smartest of the new world monkeys and smarter than gorillas.
HOBBIES
Spider monkeys have very interesting hobbies. Most
of the time they spend hook sitting in trees and grooming themselves. They
usually stay up in trees, and rarely come down to the ground. When spider
monkeys are not sleeping in the sun or looking for food they swing around just
for the fun of it. Sometimes they just swing back and forth on one particular
branch switching hands and sometimes they just swing by their tails.
DIET
Insects and spiders are on spider monkeys menu and
that makes them omnivores. They eat a wide variety of things. In captivity
they even eat dog food for protein. Food examples in the wild include spiders,
nectar, apples, bird eggs (an easy source of protein), roots, nuts, and
their favorite food, bananas.
HABITAT
Spider monkeys live in Central America and a few
other places too. They live in rain forests preferably near a good source of
water and food. Besides rain forests, spider monkeys can live in
marshes, high mountains, and even savanna forests. People have been
cutting down trees in spider monkey’s habitat and spider monkeys are starting
to move into areas that are not their natural habitats. Now spider
monkeys are threatened.
Home Facts What I Learned Scientific Questions THE MONKEY GAME Dictionary Bibliography Student Info
Meet the Monkeys!
Brownie Mohawkin Canopy Zach Granda Elder