Critically Endangered
Brown spider monkey
Ateles hybridus
Brown spider monkey is a New World monkey in the family Atelidae (order Primates) — Ateles hybridus, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
The brown spider monkey has long and thin limbs with longer forelimbs than hind limbs. Brown spider monkeys have four curved fingers and lack thumbs to help them swing from one tree to another. Its coloration ranges from light brown to dark on upper parts among them the head.
It has a distinctive 75 cm (30 in) long flexible, thin and prehensile tail that at times acts like a fifth limb. Adult males weigh between 7.9 and 9.1 kg (17 and 20 lb) and adult females weigh between 7.5 and 9 kg (17 and 20 lb).
Range and habitat
The brown spider monkey is found in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela. In Colombia, it is found from the right bank of the Magdalena River in the Magdalena and Cesar Departments, the south western portions of Guajira in the northernmost parts of the Serrania de Perija, and in the middle Magdalena River Valley at least to the Caldas and Cundinamarca Departments. In Venezuela, the brown spider monkey is normally found at altitudes between 20 and 700 m (66 and 2,297 ft).
It has been hypothesized that this anomaly is due to the sample being taken from El Paujil reserve, that is a protected area and may serve as refuge from other human activities, namely poaching. Brown spider monkeys are also known from other reserves in both Colombia and Venezuela.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
Even though the brown spider monkey spends most of its time high in trees, it occasionally descends to eat soil and drink water. Since it forages in high canopies, it prefers undisturbed primary forests.
The brown spider monkey travels in small groups, and instead of walking or running on all fours, it travels mostly by swinging and climbing between trees. The brown spider monkey mainly forages in the forest canopy and relies mostly on its senses of sight, smell, taste, and touch to find food.
In crisis
Since 2004, the brown spider monkeys have been listed as one of the most endangered primates in Colombia's inter-Andean Valleys. This is due to habitat fragmentation, threats of hunting, and threats of capture for pet trade. The population is estimated to have decreased by at least 80% and some populations have already been extirpated.
Few remaining populations are of adequate size to be viable long-term. It is also threatened by hunting (in some regions it is the favorite game) and the wild animals trade.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Brown spider monkey is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Brown spider monkey, Wikidata item Q790630. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
