THE BLACK HOWLER MONKEY

The Black Howler Monkey, (Alouatta pigra) known as the ‘baboon’ in Belize has very limited range including Belize, Southern Mexico and Northern Guatemala. It is one of the six howler monkey species found in Central and South America. One of the most remarkable traits of the howler monkey is its loud, rasping howl, which can be heard roaring across the forest for well over a mile. Throughout most of its range, the Howler Monkey is endangered from hunting and habitat destruction. Fortunately, Belize has a healthy population of these loudest of primates. Visitors to Black Orchid Resort are most likely to come to a very close encounter with this specie especially if they opt for a river cruise down the Belize Old River!

The black howler monkey typically lives in troops of 4-12 individuals, with one to three adult males and multiple females and a dominant male heading the troop. The monkeys are strictly vegetarian eating a wide variety of leaves, flowers and fruit.

Howler monkeys have short snouts and wide-set, round nostrils. Their noses are very keen, and the Howler monkey can smell out its food up to 2 miles away. Their noses are usually roundish snout-type, and the nostrils have many sensory hairs growing from the interior. They range in size from 2 to 3 ft. excluding their tails, which can be equally as long, in fact in some cases the tail has been found to be almost 5 times the body length. This is a prime characteristic. Like many New World monkeys, they have prehensile tails. They can grasp items with it, hence why they are often found using their prehensile tails for picking fruit and nuts from trees.

They have lifespans of 15 to 20 years. Males are, on average, 1.5 to 2.0 kg heavier than females.

Howler monkeys generally move quadrupedally on the tops of branches of trees along the Belize River, usually grasping a branch with at least two hands or one hand and the tail at all times. Their strong prehensile tails are able to support their entire body weight. Fully grown adult howler monkeys do not often rely on their tails for full body support, whereas juveniles do so more frequently.