Page 148 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

148 ATLAS OF THE WORLD’S STRANGEST ANIMALS

A tasty treat hanging on another branch proves to be too With a sudden crack, the branch beneath his feet breaks and
much of a temptation for this young howler monkey. the hungry howler begins to tumble down, towards ground.

No matter how many strange and spectacular animals a rivals in their local area, then they have much less to
visitor to the Amazon might encounter, nothing is likely shout about.
to prepare them for a howler monkey ‘dawn chorus’!
These rich, red-brown monkeys are the loudest animals Bad dads?
in South America and the noises they produce can be Howlers may be famous for their loud calls, but these
truly startling. rainforest-dwellers have a stranger – and bloodier – claim
It’s generally the males that begin the famous howling to fame.
chorus, using their eerie cries to declare their ownership Red howler troops are made up of several males and
of territory.Typically, one male begins and the rest of the females and their offspring. Juvenile males are generally
troop joins in.Then, other troops, within earshot, reply, ejected from the troop once they reach sexual maturity
until the forest is jangling with raucous hoots and howls. and they may form their own, larger ‘bachelor troops’.
It might not sound very sociable, but it’s important ‘work’.
The howlers’ are folivores, so their diet is made up
mostly of leaves.These aren’t very nutritious, so every Red howler monkey habitats
troop needs a big territory and a way to defend it without
having to use too much energy. Since the best way to do
this is by avoiding a fight in the first place, the howler
monkeys use their voice. By calling out at the start and,
sometimes, at the end of every day, they lay claim to their
territory and prevent conflicts with any troop that might
accidentally wander into it.
The howlers’ cries are so loud that their roars can be
heard up to 5km (3.1 miles) away.This is possible because
they possess an enlarged lower jaw and an over-developed
hyoid bone.This is the bone to which muscles from the
floor of the mouth and the tongue are attached, and it acts
a little like a loud speaker. By forming their mouths into
tubes, howlers can produce a range of vibrant ‘yodels’ of
varying intensity and length.
Interestingly, in reserves and zoos, howlers are less likely
to make such a racket. Once they learn that there are no

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.