White-cheeked spider monkey

White-cheeked spider monkey
File:Ateles marginatus (Sao Paulo zoo).jpg
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Family:	Atelidae
Genus:	Ateles
Species:	A. marginatus
Binomial name
Ateles marginatus É. Geoffroy, 1809
File:White-cheeked Spider Monkey area.png
White-cheeked Spider Monkey range

The white-cheeked spider monkey (Ateles marginatus) is a species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, endemic to Brazil.

There are many different varieties of spider monkeys that make their home in the upper levels of the rain forest. The white-cheeked spider monkey was placed on the endangered species list after an assessment in 2008 discovered that their population had decreased by 50% over the course of three generations; this decline can be attributed to habitat loss and hunting. This trend is expected to continue due to the increasing expansion of soybean agriculture. Also, parts of their habitat have been destroyed to make way for major highways and extensive deforestation. The white-cheeked spider monkey is commonly found in the Brazilian Amazon. The area it is most likely to be found in resides between the Rio Tapajós (right bank) and its tributary, the Rio Teles Pires (right bank) and the Rio Xingu (left bank), south of the Rio Amazonas. A portion of their territory lies also within national forests such as Tapajós National Forest (545,000 ha (1,350,000 acres)), Xingu National Forest (252,790 ha (624,700 acres)), Altamira National Forest (689,012 ha (1,702,590 acres)), Itaituba I National Forest (220,034 ha (543,720 acres)), and Itaituba II National Forest (440,500 ha (1,088,000 acres)).

Some of the indigenous peoples in Brazil consider spider monkeys a delicacy, and when this is combined with their low reproduction rate, the population is sure to decline swiftly. It generally lives in groups of 20-30 individuals, but it is rare for them to be seen all together. It is more common for the white-cheeked spider monkey to travel in smaller groups of 2-4 when feeding and resting. At around 4–5 years of age, it apparently reaches sexual maturity and will give birth to one offspring after a gestation period of 226–232 days; the interbirth interval can last as long as 28–30 months in the wild.

The diet of the white-cheeked spider monkey consists of fruit, leaves, flowers, aerial roots, bark, decaying wood, honey, and even some small insects such as termites and caterpillars. One very important impact it has on its habitat is to provide seed dispersal for different species of plants throughout their territory, it is thought that they provide movement for 138 different species of fruit seeds.