Red-Backed Squirrel Monkey
Amy
Endangered
The Red-Backed Squirrel Monkey is not typically hunted, but they are trapped because many people like them and they are sold as pets. Many of these pets are not taken care of properly. This is a global species.
Characteristics
Squirrel monkeys have a slender build with a short greyish dense coat. The ears, throat, head, back and legs are yellow to grey-green and the other parts are yellow to white. The face is white. The squirrel monkey has a tail that often curls over its shoulder when it is resting. Squirrel monkeys have thirty-six teeth; males have large upper canine teeth. Squirrel monkeys have nails instead of claws. They have been called 'small, nervous primates' as they are the smallest of the primate family Cebidae; they weigh about one to three pounds. The length of its body is nine to nineteen inches. Its tail is about fourteen to nineteen inches long.
Scientific and Other Names
The scientific name is Saimiri Sciureus. The Red Backed Squirrel Monkey is also called the Common Squirrel Monkey
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primate Family: Cebidae
Diet
The Red-Backed Squirrel Monkey eats flowers, leaves, fruits, insects, frogs, land and tree crabs, grubs and spiders, and sometimes birds and bird eggs. Insects make up about 75% to 80% of their diet.
Habitat
The habitat of a squirrel monkey is in the northern part of South America to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. There are squirrel monkeys also in Costa Rica and Panama in Central America. The monkey lives in parts of primary and secondary forests and in cultivated areas, usually along rivers and streams. Squirrel monkeys live in trees; they have great skill in moving through the trees. They live in a terrestrial bime.
Bibliography
http://www.arkive.org/red-backed-squirrel-monkey/saimirioerstedii/ http://www.monkeyzone.com/the_squirrel_monkey.htm http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/squirrel_monkey