Spix Night Monkey
| Spix Night Monkey | ||||||||||||
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Spix's night monkey ( Aotus vociferans ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aotus vociferans | ||||||||||||
| Spix , 1823 |
The Spix night monkey ( Aotus vociferans ) is a species of primate from the group of night monkeys (Aotidae). He is counted within this family to the Graukehl group , which brings together the more primitive animals that live north of the Amazon.
features
Like all night monkeys, Spix's night monkeys are relatively small primates with large eyes that are adapted to their nocturnal lifestyle. With a weight of around 0.7 kilograms, they are among the smaller representatives of their species. Their fur is gray-brown on the back and on the outside of the limbs, the belly and the inside of the limbs are reddish-brown. The rear part of the long tail is dark in color. The brown eyes are surrounded by white fields, along the head are three dark stripes, one outside of each eye and one across the forehead to the nose. They differ from other night monkeys in that the two outer stripes meet at the back and in the number of chromosomes .
distribution and habitat
Spix night monkeys live in the western Amazon basin . Their distribution area includes northwestern Brazil (north of the Amazon and west of the Rio Negro ), southeastern Colombia , eastern Ecuador and northern Peru . Their habitat are forests, often lower-lying rainforests at 200 to 900 meters above sea level, but also mountain forests up to 1500 meters.
Way of life
Like all night monkeys, they are nocturnal and usually stay in the trees. There they move on all fours and jump away. To sleep, they retire in tree hollows or thickets of plants. They live in monogamous family groups of two to five animals and live in fixed territories that they defend from conspecifics.
The main diet of these animals consists of fruits, besides they also eat leaves and insects. Due to their nocturnal lifestyle, they avoid competition with diurnal, more dominant species.
Danger
Spix's night monkeys have a large, relatively sparsely populated range. No major threats are known, the IUCN lists them as “not at risk” ( least concern ).
The only current and former holder of European zoo history is Kent. The first European breeding was also carried out there in 2014.
literature
- Thomas Geissmann : Comparative Primatology. Springer, Berlin et al. 2003, ISBN 3-540-43645-6 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Thomas R. Defler, Marta L. Bueno: Aotus Diversity and the Species Problem . In: Primate Conservation. 22, 2007, ISSN 0898-6207 , pp. 55-70, PDF ( Memento from February 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).