Long-haired spider monkey

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). The inter-Andean forest is also diminishing due to mining, infrastructure, and other industrial reinforcements. In addition, their recovery from population loss is due to their low reproductive rate. Typically, they reproduce every 2–3 years.

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. It is mainly herbivorous and frugivorous. A main component of the brown spider monkey's diet is ripe fruit. Over three quarters of its diet is lipid-rich fruits. However, in drier seasons where fruit is less abundant, it feeds on leaves, seeds, flowers, bark, honey, decaying wood, and occasionally insects such as termites and caterpillars. The brown spider monkey feeds on different species of figs year around. Scientists have observed it eating soil and clay, and hypothesized that the reasons for this behavior could be to obtain minerals from the soil, for example phosphorus, or in order to maintain a pH-balance in its digestive system. …