Common squirrel monkey
| Common Squirrel Monkey[1] | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | |
| Species: | S. sciureus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Saimiri sciureus (Linnaeus, 1758)
| |
The Common Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus) is a small New World primate from the Cebidae family, and native to ten different countries of South America: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
It lives in very large groups, up to 300 individuals, on moist tropical forests, and usually forages in the medium and lower levels of the forest and sleeps close to the canopy. The females are the dominant members of the group.
It is a very agile monkey, with a high metabolic rate, and although an omnivorous animal, it feeds primarily on insects and other invertebrates. It also feeds on fruits, seeds and other plant parts.
It is common to see these squirrel monkeys in mixed groups, moving along with other primate species and birds.
There are four subspecies of Saimiri sciureus:
- Saimiri sciureus sciureus
- Saimiri sciureus albigena
- Humboldt's Squirrel Monkey, Saimiri sciureus cassiquiarensis
- Ecuadorian Squirrel Monkey, Saimiri sciureus macrodon
References
- ^ Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 139. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern
.png){kind=small} | This primate-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
