| |
Howler Monkey
The largest of the monkeys found on the American Continent. Howler Monkeys
weigh between 5 and 7 kgs. The howler monkey has a solid, stocky build
and a dark browny to black fur. The most destinctive thing about the howler
monkey is that the male has very large vocal cords which give it a capacity
to roar amazingly loud, which usually can be heard kilometers away. Hence
the name howler monkey. The male usually howls in the mornings, late afternoons
or during the night. Many first time campers or hikers can be quite shocked
or even scared when they first hear a howler monkey, especially if it
is during the night, believe me.
Howler monkeys spend all their time in the tree tops. They are a social
animal and alot of times can be found in large groups of up to 20 animals.
Despite the noise a howler monkey can make they are generally passive
sedate and relatively slow moving. A vegetarian whose diet consists of
fruits, leafs, sweet stems or shoots and flowers. Sexual maturity is reached
around 3 years, there is no specific breeding months and pregance lasts
around 140 days.
Howler monkeys live in a wide range of areas from lowland tropical forest
to cloudforest. Most protected areas or national parks in Honduras have
howler monkey populations. Howler monkeys have a very small home range,
and can survive in very small areas of forest, this helps greatly keep
their numbers strong.
All the large cats of Honduras and the near extinct harpy eagle hunt for
the howler monkeys, also in some remoter regions of Honduras ( mainly
the Mosquita ) they are still hunted by humans as a food source. Their
biggest threat is though from destruction of habitat. Your chances of
seeing a howler monkey if you spend sometime in the national parks of
Honduras is good. They are rare at times, but seeing howler monkeys is
very possible. You do though have an extremely high chance of hearing
a howler monkey call, which can be as impressive as seeing one.
For tours check out our private tours.
|
|
|
|
|
