Howler monkeys are among the largest of the New World monkeys. They are famous for their loud howls, which can travel more than one mile through dense rain forest. These monkeys are native to South and Central American forests. Threats include human predation, habitat destruction, and capture for pets or zoo animals. Fifteen species are recognized. Previously classified in the family Cebidae, they are now placed in the family Atelidae.
The Atelidae are one of the five families of New World monkeys now recognised. It was formerly included in the family Cebidae. Atelids are generally larger monkeys; the family includes the howler, spider, woolly, and woolly spider monkeys. They are found throughout the forested regions of Central and South America, from Mexico to northern Argentina.
The black howler or black-and-gold howler, is among the largest New World monkeys and a member of the Alouatta genus. The black howler is distributed in areas of South America such as Paraguay, southern Brazil, eastern Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Uruguay. This species is sexually dimorphic, with adult males having entirely black fur and adult females and babies of both sexes having an overall golden colouring; which emphasizes black-and-gold in the name. The IUCN Red List has classed the black howler as Near Threatened as a result of a recent population reduction due to a variety of human-caused factors.
The Central American squirrel monkey, also known as the red-backed squirrel monkey, is a squirrel monkey species from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Panama. It is restricted to the northwestern tip of Panama near the border with Costa Rica, and the central and southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, primarily in Manuel Antonio and Corcovado National Parks.
The mantled howler is a species of howler monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central and South America. It is one of the monkey species most often seen and heard in the wild in Central America. It takes its "mantled" name from the long guard hairs on its sides.
The Yucatán black howler, or Guatemalan black howler, is a species of howler monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central America. It is found in Belize, Guatemala and Mexico, in and near the Yucatán Peninsula. It lives in evergreen, semideciduous and lowland rain forests. It is also known as the baboon in Belize, although it is not closely related to the baboons in Africa.
The Coiba Island howler is a type of howler monkey, a type of New World monkey, endemic to Panama. Although the Coiba Island howler has been recognized as a separate species by a number of authorities since a 1987 study of its fingerprints, mitochondrial DNA testing found it does not differ from mantled howler populations in any significant way. A reason given for treating it as a separate species is that the dermal ridges of its hands and feet differ from those of the mantled howler.
The Curú Wildlife Refuge is a Wildlife refuge of Costa Rica, part of the Tempisque Conservation Area, tropical dry forests on the southern Nicoya Peninsula, near Tambor. Although it is a wildlife refuge it is also private property forming part of a ranch of 12.14 square kilometres. One third of the property is used for cattle breeding and growing crops such as soursop, guava, banana, mango and African oil palm, while the remaining two thirds retains its natural vegetation.
The Azuero howler a type of monkey that is a subspecies of the Coiba Island howler A. coibensis. This subspecies is endemic to the Azuero Peninsula in Panama. The Azuero howler is distinguished primarily by its golden flanks and loins, and browner appearance on the rest of its body.
The golden-mantled howler is a subspecies of the mantled howler, A. palliata. It ranges throughout much of Central America, in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and possibly Panama. The range limits between the golden-mantled howler and the Ecuadorian mantled howler are not entirely clear. The Ecuadorian mantled howler replaces the golden-mantled howler in either extreme eastern Costa Rica or western Panama.
The Mexican howler is a subspecies of the mantled howler, A. palliata. This subspecies is found predominantly in forests between south eastern Mexico and north eastern Peru. Typical of its species, the Mexican howler monkey has a prehensile tail, a deep jaw, and a large pharynx which it uses to make characteristically deep and resonating howls. Mantled howler monkeys are known for forming unusually large cohorts averaging 14 members and sometimes extending to 40 members.
The Panamanian night monkey or Chocoan night monkey is a species of night monkey formerly considered a subspecies of the gray-bellied night monkey of the family Aotidae. Its range consists of Panama and the Chocó region of Colombia. There are also unconfirmed reports of its occurrence in Costa Rica, especially on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. The species definitely occurs in the Atlantic lowlands of Panama close to the Costa Rica border.
The black-crowned Central American squirrel monkey is a subspecies of the Central American squirrel monkey. Its range is restricted to the Pacific coast of western Panama to the western portion of the Chiriquí Province and of southern Costa Rica, south of the Rio Grande de Terraba, including the Osa Peninsula. It is the subspecies of Central American squirrel monkey seen in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. Its type locality is David, Panama, but its range apparently no longer extends that far east.
The southern brown howler is a monkey subspecies of brown howler native to southeastern Brazil and far northeastern Argentina (Misiones). Gregorin, 2006, considered the southern brown howler to be a separate species, Alouatta clamitans, but this has not been universally accepted.
The Maderas Rainforest Conservancy is a nonprofit organization which was established to promote the conservation, protection, and management of Mesoamerican forests and animal and plant biodiversity through education, reforestation, preservation, and by working with local communities, and national and international institutions and universities.
The Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves ecoregion covers a series of mangrove forests along the Pacific Ocean coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, from the southern margin of the Gulf of Fonseca to the Gulf of Nicoya near the border with Panama. Because the area is drier than the mangroves further south, evapotranspiration leaves some areas with higher salinity and even salt pans in the internal areas.
male
troop
adult with infant
juvenile
juvenile female with botfly parasite
