They are very choosy eaters, and often only eat certain parts of an individual tree and other parts of a different tree. Since they are not dependent on only eating fruit (as spider monkeys do), howlers can survive in daily and home ranges rather small for a primate of their size.
These primates are sedentary foragers: they eat mostly leaves, but they may also pick fruits and flowers. Howlers hardly ever descend to the ground except to travel between islands of trees in a habitat. Average group size varies from 11 to 18 depending on the region. Within a group, all adult males are dominant to all adult females, but the youngest adult of either sex holds the alpha rank for that sex. A female will become sexually active at 3 years, and have her first infant before her fourth year, with a gestation period of 6 months. At 12 weeks old, howlers may move away from their parents. The group is usually defined as several adult males and females, with their juveniles and infants, although juveniles usually leave their parents' group eventually. Some biologists conclude that the howling is used as a spacing mechanism between individuals or to communicate within the troop.
They often make calls at sunrise and sunset or in response to people, airplanes, rain and thunder, or other howlers. Their howls can be heard more than 1 km away through the forest. Howlers are famous for the incredible vocalizations made by adult males. This primate lives up to an elevation of 2,500 m from southern Mexico to northwestern South America.Īdults are black with brown or blonde saddles infants are silver to golden brown and become increasingly like adult coloration until they are about 12 weeks old. Howlers live in the canopies of lowland and montane forests.
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