The Specifics- The White Bellied Spider MOnkey

A group of birds is called, well, a flock of course. Unfortunately there aren’t any flocks of monkeys they are called troops, barrels, tribes or cartloads. Groups of spider monkeys usually consist of 20 to 30 members. They’re hardly ever seen together and nearly always to be found traveling, feeding and resting small in groups of varying size and composition, the only persistent association being that of a mother and her offspring members of the group will also travel on their own.(2)
Each female in the group has a “core area” which is the area she uses the most. There are subgroups with 1-4 monkeys. This species has never seen associating with other primates. If they happen to run into another type of primate this is considered rare and the meetings are brief. These rare gatherings are a result of simultaneously search for fruits ate the same time. (2) At the age of 4 or 5 spider monkeys reach their sexual maturity. (2) For a female it may be 1,461 days, and for males 1,826 days. They can life for up to 37 years. They can give birth to only one infant at a time with a gestation period of 226-232 days. The female has a minimum of 1,095 days between each birth. (1) There is theoretical inter birth interval of 17.5 months (in captivity), but in the wild about 28-30 months.

Why They’re Endangered

Deforestation is one reason why the White bellied spider monkey is endangered. This species spends most of its time in the middle and lower strata and the canopy. They find their food in this area, and are completely depended on the resources offered in this level of the forests. Their diet mostly consists of wide variety of fruits. 83% of their diet are fruits and are mostly found in the emergent trees and upper part of the forest canopy. They also eat young leaves and flowers (both especially at times of fruit shortage during the beginning of the dry season), and besides such as young seeds, floral buds, pseudo bulbs, aerial roots, bark, decaying wood, and honey, and very occasionally small insects such as termites and caterpillars. As the trees fall, so does the population of the white bellied spider monkeys. (2)
Another problem is an uncontrollable cause. Their reproduction rate is lower than the death rate. If they are being hunted and dying, they are not having enough time to reproduce to make up for the lost monkeys.