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Shortly after we had left on our boat tour up the New River to the Lamanai ruins, our
tour guide stopped the boat and pulled up under a tree that was hanging over the
water. Very soon after that three of these spider monkeys dropped from the tree onto
our boat. Antonio had brought bananas, and passed a few out to people. I got one of
the bananas, and so I got to feed the monkey. He calmly took the food and sat around
ate his banana about three feet from me. This picture is of one of those monkeys.
These monkeys are also known as Central American Spider Monkeys, or as Geoffrey's
Spider Monkey. Spider Monkeys can get up to 8kg (17lbs), and hence they are one of
the bigger Central American primates. They are distinguished by there very long
limbs, hence the name Spider Monkey. They also have a very long prehensile tail which
is often used as a fifth limb while swinging through the upper reaches of trees where
they spend most of their time. These monkeys live in troops from 2 to 25 monkeys.
During the day however, they usually break into smaller "foraging" parties to
search for the 80% fruit and 20% leaves that usually make up their diet. They then
rejoin their troop at night to spend the night in a common sleeping tree.
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