Black Howler monkey

• Common Name: Black Howler
• Taxonomy Classification Year: 1812
• Monkey Size: 56 to 92 cm (22 to 36 in)
• Skin Color(s): Black or yellow-brown
• Habitat: Forest and rainforest
• Diet: Herbivorous
• Native Countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina

Alouatta caraya^[1] is found in the tropical rain forests of central South America, extending through eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina.

• Alouatta caraya has long and powerful prehensile tails.
• These tails are usually hairless on the underside, allowing them to identify things and be sensitive to touch, like a fifth hand.
• The black face is also primarily hairless, with slightly bushy eyebrows. It has medium-sized brown eyes that are set frontally.
• Like other howler monkeys, they have an enlarged hyoid bone and larynx, which house the vocal tract that produces the characteristic howler.
• However, Alouatta caraya has a less prominent lower jaw and neck than some howler monkeys.

Being a herbivore, the Black Howler gets its nourishment from these main plant sources^[¶]:

• Ambay pumpwood (Cecropia pachystachya)
• Pequi (Caryocar brasiliense)
• Bastardcedar (Guazuma ulmifolia)
• Sandpaper Tree (Curatella americana)
• Earpod tree (Enterolobium contortisiliquum)
• Mangabeira (Hancornia speciosa)
• Sacky sac bean (Inga laurina)
• Urucuri palm (Attalea phalerata)
• Panama tree (Sterculia apetala)
• Copernicia (Copernicia alba)
• Motoyoe (Melicoccus lepidopetalus)
• Almendro (Dipteryx alata)
• Caskfruit (Doliocarpus)
• Corojo (Acrocomia aculeata)
• Jagua (Genipa americana)
• Paquió (Hymenaea stigonocarpa)
• Sweetwood (Nectandra membranacea)
• River koko (Inga vera)
• Abas (Psidium guajava)
• Fustictree (Maclura tinctoria)
• Shortleaf fig (Ficus citrifolia)

• Alouatta Caraya monkeys are sexually dimorphic, with males weighing an average of 6.7 kg and females an average of 4.4 kg.
• The species practices allomothering, in which other females carry, nurse, and protect babies that are not their own.
• Young males are usually not allowed to touch the babies as they abuse or even maim them.
• They are territorial but only seem to defend their immediate area, and territories sometimes overlap.
• All group members “howl” each morning to inform neighboring groups of their position, probably to maintain distance between groups.