There are over 240 different species of monkey known today and the majority of these monkeys show a preference to live in tropical rainforests. A few are also sighted in mountainous regions, plains and grasslands.
Depending on the terrain of their natural habitat, monkeys live in trees or on the ground. In the ecology of the rainforest, the species plays a very vital role in dispersion of seed. Most monkeys avoid wetlands, but are good swimmers. New World Monkeys mostly inhabit Central and South America, while their Old World counterparts are a common sight on the terrains of Asia and Africa.
The Amazon Rainforest is a perfect monkey habitat. Due to its wet and very hot climate, the Woolly monkeys that inhabit the region and that along the Amazon basin and mountain ranges of Peru live high up in the tree canopies. The Asian and African Old World monkeys enjoy more varied habitats. They are both arboreal and terrestrial. Humans are the biggest threat to the species. Encroachment along forest fringes, indiscriminate logging and hunting the mammals for meat are taking a toll on monkey habitat and extant numbers.
Dozens of species of Tamarins inhabit American rain forests from Costa Rica through the southernmost parts of the Amazon and Brazil’s dwindling Atlantic Coast forest. Most Tamarins are small, about the size of a squirrel, and some of them are quite strange in appearance.
The nine species of howler monkey are the largest monkeys in the Amazon and other rainforests of the new world. Howlers have the distinction of being the loudest land animal in the world: Their territorial calls can be heard up to three miles away.
Howlers live in family groups of up to 18 members. Rain forests from Mexico through the southern Amazon and Brazil’s Atlantic Coast are home to more than a dozen species of spider monkey, which get their name from their extremely long arms, legs, and prehensile tails.
Depending on the terrain of their natural habitat, monkeys live in trees or on the ground. In the ecology of the rainforest, the species plays a very vital role in dispersion of seed. Most monkeys avoid wetlands, but are good swimmers. New World Monkeys mostly inhabit Central and South America, while their Old World counterparts are a common sight on the terrains of Asia and Africa.
The Amazon Rainforest is a perfect monkey habitat. Due to its wet and very hot climate, the Woolly monkeys that inhabit the region and that along the Amazon basin and mountain ranges of Peru live high up in the tree canopies. The Asian and African Old World monkeys enjoy more varied habitats. They are both arboreal and terrestrial. Humans are the biggest threat to the species. Encroachment along forest fringes, indiscriminate logging and hunting the mammals for meat are taking a toll on monkey habitat and extant numbers.
Dozens of species of Tamarins inhabit American rain forests from Costa Rica through the southernmost parts of the Amazon and Brazil’s dwindling Atlantic Coast forest. Most Tamarins are small, about the size of a squirrel, and some of them are quite strange in appearance.
The nine species of howler monkey are the largest monkeys in the Amazon and other rainforests of the new world. Howlers have the distinction of being the loudest land animal in the world: Their territorial calls can be heard up to three miles away.
Howlers live in family groups of up to 18 members. Rain forests from Mexico through the southern Amazon and Brazil’s Atlantic Coast are home to more than a dozen species of spider monkey, which get their name from their extremely long arms, legs, and prehensile tails.
