Lagothrix lagotricha
| Brown woolly monkey | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | Atelidae |
| Genus: | Lagothrix |
| Species: | L. lagothricha |
| Binomial name | |
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Lagothrix lagothricha (Humboldt, 1812) |
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| Brown woolly monkey range | |
| Synonyms | |
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The brown woolly monkey, common woolly monkey, or Humboldt's woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagothricha) is a woolly monkey from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. It lives in groups of two to 70 individuals, usually splitting the group into smaller subgroups when active.
The taxonomy of the brown woolly monkey is still debated. Fooden classified it is as one of two species under the genus Lagothrix with four sub-species (L. l. lagotricha, L. l. lugens, L. l. cana, and L. l. poeppgigii. Later, an analysis of craniodental morphology suggested a of move of all sub-species to the species level and also led to the yellow-tailed woolly monkey (formerly Lagothrix flavicauda) being moved to a monotypic genus Oreonax. Genetic analyses also identify distinct groups, but different groupings from morphological and molecular data continue to make this a difficult issue that might be addressed with larger data sets.
Many published sources use the specific name lagothricha rather than the etymologically correct lagotricha, since Fooden adopted this spelling when he revised the genus. Von Humboldt used both spellings in his original description of the species.
Brown woolly monkeys are large compared to most other tree-dwelling primates, with a head-body length of 40–60 cm, a tail length of 55–75 cm, and a weight of 5.5-10.8 kg. Contrary to their name, they may also be a shade of grey or black as well as brown, and are darker on the head and underparts. The face is naked of any fur and is typically black. Most male woolly monkeys are larger than the females, also having larger canines. Brown woolly monkeys are also diurnal.
The species occurs in bordering areas of four different countries. It is found in the north-western region of Brazil, the northern region of Peru, the north-eastern region of Ecuador, and the south-eastern region of Colombia. In Ecuador, the range of inhabited altitudes is 200 - 1,400 m above sea level.
Like all species of woolly monkey, brown woolly monkeys are omnivorous, but mainly frugivorous. Their diet consists primarily of fruits containing 1 or 2 large seeds and fruits that are lower in fat and higher in sugar and water. Although they prefer certain fruits such as fruits from the Fabaceae (Legume), Moraceae (fig), Convolvulaceae, and Sapotaceae families, which represent roughly 50% of consumption time, fruit abundance and production influence their diet more than preference. As such, during periods of scarcity, fruit consumption tends to decrease and leaf and insect consumption increases. Females with dependents tend to eat more leaves, most likely because the leaves contain more protein, which helps the female produce more milk, whereas juvenile woolly monkeys have been observed to eat more arthropods then other members of the group.
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Wikipedia