Woolly Monkey (Lagothrix lagothricha)

MammalPrimateAmazon

Overview

Woolly monkeys (genus Lagothrix) are large, robust New World monkeys of the South American rainforest, named for their thick, dense, woolly fur. Heavily built compared with their relatives the spider monkeys, they have a rounded head, a stocky body, and a powerful prehensile tail — bare and gripping on the underside of its tip — that acts as a true fifth limb. The Humboldt's (or common brown) woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagothricha) is shown here.

Woolly monkeys are major fruit-eaters and important seed dispersers, but their size and slow breeding make them especially vulnerable to hunting.

Conservation note: woolly monkeys are threatened — several species and populations are Vulnerable or Endangered, mainly from hunting and habitat loss. Verify each species' status at iucnredlist.org.

Habitat & Range

Woolly monkeys live in the rainforests of the Amazon basin and the adjoining Andean foothills in northern and western South America. They favour tall, mature, humid forest with a continuous canopy and abundant fruit, and they range over large areas, making them sensitive to forest loss and fragmentation.

Diet

Woolly monkeys are mainly frugivores, eating large quantities of ripe fruit and supplementing it with seeds, leaves, flowers, and some insects. Because they consume so much fruit and travel widely through the canopy, they are among the more important seed dispersers in their forests, helping many tree species regenerate.

Behavior

Woolly monkeys live in groups that can be fairly large and may split into smaller parties to forage. They move steadily through the canopy by climbing and by using the strong prehensile tail to hang and reach, rather than swinging as acrobatically as spider monkeys. They are generally peaceable and social, communicating with calls and gestures. Like other large monkeys, they reproduce slowly — usually a single, slow-maturing infant — so populations recover slowly from losses.

Human Interaction & Conservation

Woolly monkeys are heavily affected by hunting: they are large, conspicuous, and favoured as bushmeat, and infants are often taken for the pet trade after their mothers are killed. Combined with deforestation and their slow reproduction, this has made several woolly monkeys threatened. Protecting large tracts of forest and managing hunting are essential. Consult the IUCN Red List for species-specific status.

More photos of the woolly monkey