10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no. 6

10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no. 6 - Brown spider monkey

Hello,

Today we're looking at a subspecies of monkey called the brown spider monkey (Ateles hybridus).

The brown spider monkey, also known as the variegated spider monkey, can be found in the Magdalena River basin in Colombia and Venezuela. They live in lowland (sub-)tropical forests. They are social animals, living in groups of up to 30 individuals. These groups have no known social heirachy and are territorial. They split up into smaller groups while foraging for food. Their diet consists of ripe fleshy fruit, flowers, roots, young leaves and seeds. They are vital for the survival of their eco system as they play an important role in seed dispersal.

Adult individuals weigh 6.5 to 9 kg. The females are slightly heavier. They mostly have brown eyes although some have remarkably pale blue eyes. They are about 50 cm big and live for 10-27 years (in the wild). Brown spider monkeys have long legs and a long thin powerful tail. They are better suited to being in the trees where they spend most of their time and are poorly adapted to being on the ground. They are active during the daytime.

Females reach sexual maturity at 8-9 years old and give birth to one baby at a time. The gestation period is 226-232 days (just under 7 months) and the inter birth intervals average at 32-36 months (just under 3 years). They display a polygynandry mating system meaning that both sexes have multiple mating patners. There is no defined mating system and the infacts reach maturity at 4-5 years old.

Unfortunatly, these monkeys are in danger. They are listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN (since the 23rd March 2020) and have been listed on The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates six times. The IUCN suspects a population decline of 80% over the last three generations (45 years). That decline is continuing. Their suitable habitat is decreasing by 20-30%, leading to a decline in mature individuals. Because females only give birth to one child at a time, it takes the population a very long time to grow, which makes it harder for them to avoid extinction. The main threats are habitat loss through the spread of human civilisations, roads, crop and cattle farming and wood harvesting. They are also hunted for the (partially illeagal) pet trade and for human food and medicine on a local and national level (not internationally).

We hope you enjoyed hearing about these amazing animals. We all hope they will be around in future generations.

Your Green World Blog Team💚

Sources:
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/39961/17929680
https://www.worldlandtrust.org/species/mammals/brown-spider-monkey/
https://animalia.bio/brown-spider-monkey

Images:

1. This image, owned by Nathan Rupert (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

2. This image, owned by Chuck Dowe (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

3. This image, owned by Marie Hale (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Comments

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...

The life of ... an alcon blue butterfly

Hi everyone, Today we are going to be looking into the life of an alcon blue butterfly (Phengaris alcon). After mating, the females lay their eggs on marsh gentian, a blue-coloured wildflower. The eggs can only be laid on these flowers, as this is what the newly hatched caterpillars will eat. Although in some alp regions, they can also be found on willow gentians, a close relative of the marsh gentian. Once the caterpillars have hatched from the eggs, their main predator and danger are the ants that swarm below. But high on their plant homes, the caterpillars are safe. However, this isn't where the alcon blue caterpillars are going to stay forever. Eventually, they drop down to the ground using silk strings. With no protection, they are soon dragged off by the ants. The most amazing part is, the alcon blue caterpillars give off the same scent and chemicals as the ant larvae. So the ants take the caterpillars back to their brood chamber, wher...

10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no. 7 - tooth-billed pigeon

Hi everyone, We're back with another endangered animal. This time it's a pigeon, but not the kind that we're used to seeing in cities. The tooth-billes pigeon, didunculus strigirostris, is the only remaing species of the Didunculus genus and is one of the closest living relatives of the world-famous Dodo. The adults have chestnut coloured bodies and wings, a greenish head and neck with red skin around the eyes, reddish feet and an orange bill with a characteristic jagges tip (hence the name tooth-billed). They are 31-38cm long and weigh about 400g. The juveniles are duller with a brown head and a black bill. Tooth-billed pigeons are shy and are belived to live in small groups. These terrestrial birds are endemic to the islands of Upolu and Savai'i. They are Samoa's national bird and can be found on the local currency. In Samoa they are known as Manumea and are eaten on a local and national level, but not internationally. They ...

How much do you know about the greenhouse gas effect? - Quiz

Welcome back to Green World! Today we have a quiz that will test your knowledge about the greenhouse gas effect and its effect on the world. Enjoy! Questions True or False? Carbon dioxide is the only greenhouse gas. Burning fossil feuls mostly emits ... a) methane b) nitrogen c) carbon dioxide True or False? One ppm (part per million) is the same ratio as one drop of water in 13 gallons of liquid. Which one of these is not a greenhouse gas? a) carbon dioxide b) nitrous oxide c) oxygen True or False? Some greenhouse gases are only in the atmosphere for a few years. Which sector has the highest greenhouse gas emissions in the US? a) Agriculture and other land use b) Electricity c) Industry True or False? 94% of global methane emissions come from human activities. Which sector has experienced the highest increase in...

The life of ... a kangaroo

Welcome back to Green World, Today we're talking about a rather amazing animal that we've all heard of: the kangaroo. Kangaroos are marsupials. They have powerful back legs, short front legs and a strong tail for balance. Kangaroos can weigh up to 90kg and stand over 1.80m tall. They are probably best known for leaping about on their hind legs. And for good reason, grey kangaroos can cover 9 meters in a single bound and travel at more than 55km/h. Interestingly, red kangaroos use less energy when traveling at 10km/h than when traveling at 6.5km/h. All Kangaroos live in Australia, but different species inhabit different areas. Eastern grey kangaroos are found in eastern Australia and Tasmania. Western grey kangaroos are located on the southern coast and in the southwest of western Australia. Red kangaroos dwelll in the interior grasslands and desert while antilope kangaroos can be found on the plains of the tropical north. They l...

Animals 21-25 in our '50 incredible animals' series

Hi Everyone! Here are the next five animals in our current series! We hope you learn something from this. 21. Stick insect Stick insects are masters of disguise. They look like twigs or leaves. This strange appearance makes them hard to spot when stationary. Stick insects are herbivores, feeding on leaves, and can live for up to three years. Their habitat includes most tropical and subtropical regions, but there are a few species that live in temperate areas as well. There are roughly 3 000 different stick insect species! Not much more is known about them, because they are difficult to find. The two main threats to their populations are the pet trade and people killing them so as to frame their carcasses, like butterflies. Their conservation status ranges from critically endangered to least concern - so basically every category that is on the list! 22. Glass frog The glass frog is, well, see through. You can literally ...

How well do you know the Arctic and the Antarctic? - Quiz

Welcome back to Green World, As announced last week, we're starting our new monthly series: quizzes! This post contains the questions, you have to write down the answers and compare them with the solutions right at the bottom of this post. Questions: True or False? The Arctic is not actually a land mass, it's a frozen ocean. How many people live in the Arctic circle? a) 500 000 b) 4 million c) 10 million True or False? Narwals don't actually have unicorn-like horns. That's just a legend. What percentage of the world's freshwater is frozen within the Arctic's ice? a) 10% b) 15% c) 20% True or False? The Arctic covers parts of 15 different countries. Scientists exploring Antarctica have measured winds of up to... a) 100 km/h b) 150km/h c) 200km/h True or False? The driest (natural) place on Earth is in Antarctica...

Maria Sibylla Merian

Hello, Today we wanted to tell you all about Maria Sibylla Merian. Maria was born in Germany on 2nd April, 1647. Like many young girls at that time, she loved to paint. Every day she would gather flowers from her garden and paint them. Sometimes, the flowers would have caterpillars on them and she would paint them changing, day by day, into butterflies. At that time, not much was known about insects, and people thought that butterflies magically sprouted from the mud. Maria knew from what she had seen while she was painting, that this was not true, but no-one believed her. As time went by, Maria became a great watercolour artist. She wrote about her discoveries, but scientists only took books written in Latin seriously, and Maria wrote hers in German. When Maria and her daughter were living in Amsterdam, Maria found display cases in museums filled with exotic insects collected from South America. Maria thought that if she could study the bu...

The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg | review & thoughts

Hi Everyone! You may be aware that Wednesday was International Women's Day, so today I wanted to share a book review for a book written by one of the most inspiring women of our generation: Greta Thunberg. She is, of course, the legendary creator of the Fridays For Future movement and has inspired thousands of children to skip school on Fridays to protest for the climate. She recently compiled a book, simply entitled: The Climate Book. Here are my thoughts. This is a compilation of articles and essays from the best climate scientists, activists and high-profile people, which makes up, in my opinion, the climate bible . It quite literally encompasses everything you may want to know about the climate crisis, from the science, to how it affects us, what we've done and have yet to do, and so much more. This book is everything. I have not yet read the whole thing, because let me tell you, this book is HUGE. It's also of course very den...

Ozone layer

Hi everyone, What even is ozone? And the ozone layer? Where does the hole in the ozone layer come from and what does it mean? Is it dangerous? What can be done? Often the ozone-talk can be complicated and confusing, keeping an overview is hard and understanding all the problems always difficult. Let us break it down a bit for you: What is the ozone layer? We'll start with the basics: The ozone layer is part of the stratosphere, which is the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere, between 10 and 50 km above the Earth's surface and made up of protective gases. One of these protective gases is ozone. There is not much ozone in the atmosphere, only 0.3 molecule of ozone per 1 million molecules of air. This is because ozone is chemically unstable and only forms when ultra violet radiation (UV light) hits oxygen and breaks the bonds between the atoms. It fact it is so unstable that even when it has formed, it breaks down again relatively quickly. This leads to ozone turning back ...

Green World

Search This Blog