Primate ObservationThe primate I have chosen for this observation is the Brown-Headed Spider Monkey. I had the opportunity to observe this endangered primate at the Santa Ana Zoo. The Brown-Headed Spider Monkey has long, narrow limbs and a prehensile tail that is used as a fifth limb to swing from branch to branch searching for food.
At the Santa Ana Zoo, I was able to observe three brown-headed spider monkeys and their cousin a black-handed spider monkey that was sharing the cage with the three. What caught my eye as I was looking for a primate to research was the spider monkeys tail. Their tails is about a quarter longer than its body and have hairless gripping pads on the underside of their tails which have a distinctive “ finger print.” Spider monkey’s tails are considered to be one of the strongest tails among all primates.
As I was observing the spider monkey I noticed that when swinging around the cage their tail would stand straight up and curl at the end giving them balance. I was amazed at how well they use their tail; it was as almost as if it was another arm. When the spider monkey would sit down and eat, it would climb onto a branch, curl its tail around its butt and balance its weight so that it could eat without worrying about predators. The spider monkeys tail allows it to travel about thirty-five mph and jump about thirty feet from branch to branch.
I started to observe the spider monkeys at one o’clock in the afternoon, it was a gloomy day with a little sun shine. The cage that the spider monkeys were in was about twenty five ft. high and about seventeen ft. across with a small tree in the middle and some ropes connecting around the cage. The spider monkeys have two of these cages with a little house connecting both the cages, allowing them to move freely from cage to cage. After learning about how a spider monkey used to live and observing how the spider monkeys live at the zoo, I then noticed why the brown-headed spider monkey wouldn’t.
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