Goeldi's Monkey - Five Sisters Zoo

These New World monkeys have silky, brownish-black fur, with a mane of hair covering the neck and shoulders.

Facts

  • Diet: Omnivores
  • Weight: 500 grams
  • Length: their body is 20 to 23 centimetres, and their tailsare 25 to 30 centimetres
  • Habitat: Forest of South America
  • Lifespan: in the wild, individuals can live for ten years; under human care, they can live up to their early twenties.

Adapted to Survive

  • Individuals have sharp claws to cling and climb trees, except on their second toe, known as the grooming claw or toilet claw
  • Strength in numbers! They live in family groups of two to nine individuals
  • Individuals hide their youngsters in vegetation when they face predators
  • They are great leapers; they can jump up to 8 metres from one branch to the next
  • They often travel with groups of different species. This behaviour is called“sympatry”
  • They travel at the back of troops (a group of monkeys) of larger monkeys to travel more safely in higher levels of the forest and improve the foraging success
  • Individuals know to hide in the forest understory from large birds of prey

 

Threats

  • Pet trade
  • Habitat loss by deforestation

IUCN Conservation Status

Vulnerable