Alouatta pigra

The howler monkey (Alouatta pigra), also known as the red-faced howler monkey, is a species of howler monkey in Central America.

The howler monkey lives in groups, with about 1-2 adults in a group, and there are 1.3 females for every male. There are about 10 members in a group, including young monkeys, and up to 16 members have been seen. Their territory covers 3-25 hectares. In the baboon reserve in Belize, there can be more than 250 per square kilometer.

Sloth howlers mainly eat leaves, fruits and flowers, and the breadfruit tree alone can provide up to 86% of their food. Their molars have high crowns that can grind leaves. The males have large hyoid bones that can amplify their voices and facilitate mutual positioning. They mainly roar in the early morning and dusk.

Sloth howlers are diurnal and arboreal. They spend most of the day resting, a quarter of the time foraging, 10% exercising, and the rest of the time socializing or doing other activities.

Female slow howler monkeys reach sexual maturity at the age of 4, while males reach 6-8 years old. Males leave the group when they reach sexual maturity, but females generally stay. They can live up to 20 years.

The IUCN considers the slow howler monkey to be endangered, with an estimated 60% decline in numbers over the next 30 years. Threats include habitat loss and hunting. They are protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) 2020 ver 3.1 - Endangered (EN).

Listed in Appendix I, Appendix II and Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 2019 edition.

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It is distributed in Belize, Guatemala, Mexico and other places close to the Yucatan Peninsula, and lives in evergreen, semi-deciduous and lowland rainforests.

The Sloth Howler is the largest of the howler monkeys and the largest of the New World monkeys. Males weigh an average of 11.4 kg, while females weigh 6.4 kg. They are 52-64 cm long (excluding the tail). The tail is 59-69 cm long and can be used to grab objects. This monkey has dense fur on its body, mostly brown-red, and can change its color from golden green to purple-red depending on the intensity and projection angle of the sunlight. It is very beautiful. The young monkeys are brown. The scrotum of males will turn white after 4 years old.