White-bellied spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth)

Captive white-bellied spider monkey
Captive white-bellied spider monkey

White-bellied spider monkey fact file

White-bellied spider monkey description

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassMammalia
OrderPrimates
FamilyAtelidae
GenusAteles (1)

Like all spider monkeys, the white-bellied spider monkey, also known as the long-haired spider monkey, has long, slender limbs and very mobile shoulder joints that aid in swinging hand-over-hand below branches (2) (4). The thumbs are either absent or reduced to a small stump, resulting in a hook-like hand structure that facilitates fast swinging below the branches (5). A further adaptation to this arboreal lifestyle is the extremely flexible prehensile tail that is used as an extra limb (2). The coat is black or brown, while the underparts, hindlimbs and the base of the tail are paler brownish-white (2). In one-third of the population, there is a yellowish-brown or white triangular patch on the forehead (2).

Also known as
long-haired spider monkey, white-fronted spider monkey.
French
Atèle Belzébuth.
Spanish
Macaco Aranha, Maquisapa, Marimona, Marimonda, Mono Araña Común, Mono Araña De Vientre Amarillo.
Size
Female head-body length: 34 - 58 cm (2)
Male head-body length: 42 - 50 cm (2)
Female tail length: 61 - 88 cm (2)
Male tail length: 69.5 - 82 cm (2)
Female weight: 7.5 - 10.4 kg (2)
Male weight: 7.3 - 9.8 kg (2)
Top

White-bellied spider monkey biology

The white-bellied spider monkey is active during the day and spends most of its time in the canopy (2). It feeds mainly on ripe fruit; the composition of the diet changes depending on what fruits are available at a given time (7). Group size varies throughout the year, becoming larger when fruit is particularly abundant (2). Males cooperate to defend the boundaries of the territory against other groups (2).

Mating occurs throughout the year. Females give birth to a single young following a gestation period of around 225 days. Upon reaching maturity, young females disperse from their natal group, whereas males remain (2).

Top

White-bellied spider monkey range

This New World monkey is found in Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (1). Its range in Colombia has previously been greatly overestimated; it is found in the lowlands where there has been massive colonisation by humans, as well as in the piedmont forests of the north. It is currently the most threatened species in the Colombian Amazon (6). In Ecuador, the population has declined by 30% in the previous three generations (1). In Brazil, this monkey is found to the north-west of the Amazon (1).

Top

White-bellied spider monkey habitat

Inhabits subtropical or tropical lowland and montane forests (1).

Top

White-bellied spider monkey status

Classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List (1). Listed under Appendix II of CITES (3).

IUCN Red List species status – Endangered

Top

White-bellied spider monkey threats

The most serious threats facing this spider monkey are hunting and deforestation for agriculture and for logging (1).

Top

White-bellied spider monkey conservation

The white-bellied spider monkey occurs in a number of protected areas in Colombia (La Macarena, Tinigua and Picachos) but there has been extensive human colonisation around these parks and so there is a need for hunting to be controlled in these areas. Unfortunately, the presence of insurgents in some areas complicates park management (6). There is a substantial subpopulation of this species in Colombia between the Rios Caguan and Yari. This area is, at the present time, relatively isolated, but developments that may enable colonists to move into the area will quickly endanger this subpopulation (6).

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Top

Find out more

For more information on this species see:

Top

Authentication

Authenticated (24/10/2005) by Matt Richardson, independent primatologist and writer.

Top

Glossary

Arboreal
Living in trees.
Gestation
The state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth.
Montane forests
Forest occurring in the montane zone, a zone of cool upland slopes below the tree line dominated by large evergreen trees.
Natal
Site of birth.
Prehensile
Capable of grasping.
Top

References

  1. IUCN Red List (January, 2009)
    http://www.iucnredlist.org
  2. Macdonald, D. (2001) The New Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  3. CITES (September, 2008)
    http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/species.html
  4. The Primata (March, 2004)
    http://www.theprimata.com/ateles_belzebuth.html
  5. Kavanagh, M. (1983) A Complete Guide to Monkeys, Apes and Other Primates. Jonathan Cape, London.
  6. Defler, T.R., Rodrigues, J.V. and Hernaandez-Camacho, J.I. (2003) Conservation Priorities for Columbian Primates. Primate Conservation, 19: 10 - 18.
  7. Nunes, A. (1998) Diet and feeding ecology of Ateles belzebuth belzebuthat Maraca Ecological Station, Roraima, Brazil. Folia Primatology, 69: 61 - 76.

More »Related species

Black-handed spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi)Brown-headed spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps)Variegated spider monkey (Ateles hybridus)Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek)Black spider monkey (Ateles paniscus)White-whiskered spider monkey (Ateles marginatus)Long-limbed black spider monkey (Ateles longimembris)Northern muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus)

Please donate to ARKive today

Help us share the wonders of the natural world. Donate today!

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.

Get involved

ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!

X
Close

Image credit

Captive white-bellied spider monkey  
Captive white-bellied spider monkey

© Pete Oxford / naturepl.com

Nature Picture Library
5a Great George Street
Bristol
BS1 5RR
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 117 911 4675
Fax: +44 (0) 117 911 4699
info@naturepl.com
http://www.naturepl.com

X
Close

Link to this photo

ARKive species - White-bellied spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth) Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.

Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.

Read more about

X
Close

MyARKive

MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.

X
Close

Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials

Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.

Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:

  • view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
  • download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
  • teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.

End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.

Additional use of flagged material

Green flagged material 

Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.

Creative commons material

Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.

Any other use

Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.

Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.