Word For Monkies Swinging Through Trees

Brachiation from "brachium", Latin for "arm" , or arm swinging , is a form of arboreal locomotion in which primates swing from tree limb to tree limb using only their arms. During brachiation, the body is alternately supported under each forelimb. This form of locomotion is the primary means of locomotion for the small gibbons and siamangs of southeast Asia. Some New World species also practice suspensory behaviors by using their prehensile tail , which acts as a fifth grasping hand. Upon further observations and more in depth understandings of the anatomy and behaviour of primates, the terms semibrachiator and probrachiator have largely fallen out of favour within the scientific community. Some traits that allow primates to brachiate include a short spine particularity the lumbar spine , short fingernails instead of claws , long curved fingers, reduced thumbs, long forelimbs and freely rotating wrists.

Ah, the rainforest. The gentle chirping of brightly-colored birds, the flow of a river, the crunch of deep green leaves on the floor. No wonder so many monkeys live in the Amazon ; it is a tropical, yet humid, paradise. These monkeys, and actually all monkeys that are native to South America , are referred to as New World monkeys. This phrasing refers to the theory that 40 million years ago there was a split between the Simiiformes infraorder, which led to the evolution of the current South and Central American monkeys we are familiar with, while the second half African apes became known as the Old World monkeys. As the name suggests, howler monkeys like to make some noise! Their territorial calls can be heard up to three miles away, in fact.

Kings and queens of swing: Siamangs have slender bodies and lightweight bones for some serious swinging. Yet there are some features of their hands and feet that make siamangs different from their gibbon brethren. Siamang hands and feet are a lot like ours. They have four long fingers and a smaller opposable thumb on their hands, and their feet have five toes like we have, but their big toe is opposable, too.

Spider monkeys are New World monkeys found in the tropical and subtropical rainforests of Central and South America. Their name is the result of their spiderlike appearance when they hang by their extra long prehensile tails from the bow of a tree. There are seven species and seven subspecies of spider monkeys, and all are at risk of extinction due to habitat loss and hunting. Spider monkeys are primarily herbivores and frugivores that are quite social and tend to live in large groups.