Brumback night monkey
| Brumback night monkey | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aotus brumbacki | ||||||||||||
| Hershkovitz , 1983 |
The Brumback night monkey ( Aotus brumbacki ) is a species of primate from the group of night monkeys (Aotidae). It is named in honor of the American physician and naturalist Roger Brumback. Sometimes it is considered a subspecies of the Colombian night monkey .
features
Brumback night monkeys, like all night monkeys, are relatively small primates - two weighed specimens reached 0.5 and 0.9 kilograms. Their fur is gray on the top, the belly and the inside of the limbs are reddish brown. The tail is bushy and longer than the body. The head is rounded and, as in all night monkeys, is characterized by large, brown eyes. These are surrounded by white fields; three dark stripes run along the head, one outside each eye and one across the forehead to the nose. They differ from other closely related species in the light color of their paws and in the number of chromosomes .
distribution and habitat
Brumback night monkeys are only found in Colombia , where they inhabit a relatively small lowland area east of the Andes . The exact extent of its distribution outside the Departamento del Meta is unclear. Forests are their habitat.
Way of life
Little is known about the way of life of these animals; it probably corresponds to that of the other night monkeys. As a result, they are nocturnal tree dwellers who sleep in tree hollows or in thickets of plants during the day. They move through the branches jumping or on all fours. Outer monkeys live in monogamous family groups of two to five animals and inhabit fixed territories that they defend from other species. Their main diet consists of fruits, but they also eat leaves and insects. Due to their nocturnal lifestyle, they avoid competition with diurnal, more dominant species.
Danger
The ignorance of the exact distribution area also makes it difficult to assess the degree of risk. In large parts of their range, however, their habitat is being destroyed in order to create agricultural land, and there are also the effects of the armed conflict . The IUCN lists the species as "endangered" ( vulnerable ).
literature
- 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 ).
- Thomas Geissmann : Comparative Primatology. Springer-Verlag, 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 .