Black-capped Squirrel Monkey

About the Black-capped Squirrel Monkey

The black-capped squirrel monkey (Saimiri boliviensis) is a species of New-World monkey native to the upper Amazon basin in Bolivia, western Brazil and eastern Peru. They weigh between 365 and 1,135 g (13 and 40 oz) and measure, from the head to the base of the tail, between 225 and 370 mm (9 and 15 in). The black-capped squirrel monkey is primarily tree-dwelling and is found in both native and plantation forests as well as some farmed areas near running water. Its diet is omnivorous and mostly consists of flowers, fruit, leaves, nuts, seeds, insects, arachnids, eggs and small vertebrates. It mostly lives in female-dominated troops of around 40 to 75 monkeys, with males having been observed to disperse to live in all-male troops after reaching sexual maturation. Its current conservation status according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is 'Least Concern'. The species belongs to the genus Saimiri and has two subspecies, S. b. boliviensis (the Bolivian squirrel monkey) and S. b. peruviensis (the Peruvian squirrel monkey).

The black-capped squirrel monkey displays sexual dimorphism, with males normally weighing between 550 and 1,135 g (19... Wikipedia →