Geoffroy’s Spider Monkey

• Common Name: Central American Spider Monkey
• Taxonomy Classification Year: 1820
• Monkey Size: 30 to 63 cm (12 to 25 in)
• Skin Color(s): Black, brown, or reddish
• Habitat: Forest, rainforest
• Diet: Herbivorous
• Native Countries: Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua

Geoffroy’s spider monkey^[1] also called the Central American spider monkey or black-handed spider monkey, is a species of spider monkey, a New World species of monkey, native to Central America, parts of Mexico, and perhaps a small part of Colombia.

• Like other monkeys and great apes, Geoffroy’s spider monkeys have large, opposed toes on their feet that can quickly grab branches.
• As the name suggests, these monkeys have black hands and feet. Their fur coats vary in color from tan to black or reddish brown.
• Babies are born black, but their fur lightens in the first five months of life. After that, a small head rests on a flexible body.
• Their expressive faces are hairless, with unpigmented skin framing the eyes and muzzle in a pale facial mask.

According to the study published^[¶], the Geoffroy’s spider monkey feeds on several plant matters, including these prominent sources:

• Breadnut (Brosimum alicastrum)
• Strawberrytree (Muntingia calabura)
• Gumbo Limbo (Bursera simaruba).
• Cedro Macho (Aralia excelsa).
• False Chiggergrape (Coccoloba venosa).
• Icecreambean (Inga edulis)
• Mango (Mangifera indica)
• Jagua (Genipa americana)
• Pachiuba (Socratea exorrhiza)
• Requia Colorada (Trichilia cipo).
• Panama Hat Plant (Carludovica palmata).
• Smooth Manjack (Cordia laevigata).
• Pumpwood (Cecropia peltata)
• Malaysian Apple (Syzygium malaccense).
• Guarumo (Cecropia obtusifolia)
• Conejo (Protium tenuifolium)
• Guabo Pachón (Inga goldmanii).
• Star Apple (Chrysophyllum cainito).
• Angelica Tree (Dendropanax arboreus).
• Abas (Psidium guajava)
• False Coffee (Faramea occidentalis).
• Panama Tree (Sterculia apetala).
• Guarumo Amarillo (Cecropia longipes).
• Amate (Ficus obtusifolia)
• Hogplum (Spondias mombin)
• Chirimoya (Annona spraguei)
• Puerto Rico Silver Palm (Coccothrinax barbadensis).

Two main predators of this Central American primate are jaguars (Panthera onca) and Cougars (Puma concolor)^[§].

• The genus name Ateles means “imperfect“, a reference to the vestigial thumb of the monkey.
• The species name geoffroyi is honored by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, a French naturalist.
• Primatologists believe that the enlarged clitoris of female Geoffroy’s spider monkeys helps males decide which female to approach for mating. It allows the male species to gauge a woman’s sexual receptivity.
• Geoffroy’s spider monkeys’ modes of locomotion include walking, climbing, or crawling along delicate branches, swinging from one branch to another.
• Often, they rub their fur with a mixture of saliva and crushed linden leaves as a natural insect repellent.