The silvery woolly monkey (''Lagothrix lagothricha poeppigii''), also known as Poeppig's woolly monkey or the red woolly monkey, is a subspecies of the

common woolly monkey The common woolly monkey, brown woolly monkey, or Humboldt's woolly monkey (''Lagothrix lagothricha'') is a woolly monkey from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Venezuela. It lives in groups of two to 70 individuals, usually splitting ...

from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Named after the German

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Eduard Friedrich Poeppig Eduard Friedrich Poeppig (16 July 1798 – 4 September 1868) was a German botanist, zoologist and explorer. Biography Poeppig was born in Plauen, Saxony. He studied medicine and natural history at the University of Leipzig, graduating with a med ...

, it is found in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Taxonomy

It was initially thought to be a subspecies of the

(''L. lagothricha''), but was later reclassified as its own species. However, a 2014 phylogenetic study found it to in fact be a subspecies of ''L. lagothricha''; the results of this study have been followed by the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

and the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

Habitat

Silvery woolly monkeys are habituated across the Amazonia, and are found in mature closed-canopy rainforest.

Dispersal

Traditionally, silvery woolly monkeys have a male

philopatry Philopatry is the tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area. The causes of philopatry are numerous, but natal philopatry, where animals return to their birthplace to breed, may be the most common. The term derives ...

and female-biased dispersal. However, recent analysis of genetic data in ''L. poeppigii'' suggests that female-biased dispersal may not be strictly followed; both sexes are found to be dispersing. Genetic data and behavioural observations indicate that both sexes may disperse both before and after sexual maturity. However, females typically leave their natal groups to mate. Male-biased dispersal happens to avoid inbreeding and to gain better reproductive opportunities.

Social structure

Silvery woolly monkeys live in multi-sex groups of 20-25 individuals.

Behavior

Silvery woolly monkeys spend less time resting in comparison to other ateline primates. In addition, woolly monkeys spend a relatively small portion of their activity budget socializing. Socializing accounts for 8% to 9% of their activity budget. Woolly monkeys have an extremely low male on male aggression rate. During aggressive intergroup encounters males are more likely to be tolerant of each other. Immature males are likely to associate with adult males, spending significantly more time with other males than immature females. Immature females have little association with other females besides their mother-offspring relationship until dispersal.

Social play

Silvery woolly monkeys participate in play behaviour by chasing and grappling in groups of 2-5 individuals. Play is most commonly observed in immatures with no significant difference between sexes.

Grooming

Grooming between silvery woolly monkeys is quite rare. There is significantly different between sexes in received grooming. When grooming does occur it happens in relatively short bouts.

Reproduction

Sexual behaviour is rarely observed within females before their dispersal, although females tend to reach sexual maturity earlier than males. After dispersal females do not begin reproduction until a year after joining their new social group. This delay may be due to not having reach full sexual maturity or social barriers within the group. Females had a low tolerance to other females engaging in mating behaviour while males were tolerant of mating by other males. Females solicit a male by displaying an open-mouthed grin while shaking their head in the direction of the male. This expression occasionally occurs by both sexes during a mount. Silvery woolly monkey reproductive events are the season with births mainly occurring between May and September. During this there is lower fruit availability, while periods of conception happen during points of higher fruit availability.

Development

Silvery woolly monkeys are considered infants until around 6 months. Silvery woolly monkeys are locomotory independent at 2 years, and typically become socially independent after 3 years.

Diet

Silvery woolly monkeys spend a majority of their day on subsistence activity; consuming plants and foraging for animal prey. Silvery woolly monkey’s diet consists of 64%-89% fruit; either ripe or nearly ripe. Silvery woolly monkeys will spit out the seeds of fruits to solely eat the flesh. Around 17% of their time is spent foraging, foraging usually occurs in large groups.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1353794 silvery woolly monkey Subspecies Primates of Brazil Mammals of Peru Mammals of Ecuador silvery woolly monkey Taxa named by Heinrich Rudolf Schinz