Title: Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia
Identifier: brehmslifeofanim1896breh (find matches)
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Brehm, Alfred Edmund, 1829-1884; Pechuel-Loesche, Edward, 1840-1913; Haacke, Wilhelm, 1855-1912; Schmidtlein, Richard
Subjects: Mammals; Animal behavior
Publisher: Chicago : Marquis
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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<30 THE APES AND MONKEYS. The Lively The best known member of this Squirrel Monkey group is the Squ irrel- M onkey, of Guiana. sometimes called the Golden-haired Monkey (Chrysothrixsciurea), distinguished as much by a graceful body and agreeable color as by a merry, cheerful disposition. He may be counted one of the best looking of all the American Monk- eys. The tail is very long; the body yellow above and whitish below. Sometimes the creature is gray with golden yellow limbs, or the head may be coal black. The length, tail included, averages about thirty-two inches. This attractive little creature is a native of Gui- ana, and prefers the banks of rivers, which he haunts in large numbers. He does not inhabit high trees, but is found in the shrubs on the edges of the forest .. / ; H^
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WHITE-HEADED SAKI MONKEY, A peculiarity of the"Saki" is that it strongly resembles Man in the face, as the artist has clearly shown. Its white he.id and yellowish-brown body give it a striking appearance. The short and bushy tail is not prehensile. The creature is dull, quiet and rather stupid, and is easily made content in captivity. Its life is spent in the trees and it feeds principally upon fruits. (Pithecia leucocephala.) like the Capuchins and sometimes may be seen in company with a troop of those animals. The Squirrel Monkey is very active throughout the en- tire day, but at night he retires to the crowns of palms, where he finds a secure asylum for rest and sleep. lie is very timid, never stirs at night, and flees at the slightest alarm by day. When fright- ened from any cause the troop moves in long rows, under the guidance of an old Monkey, which usually succeeds in leading them out of danger. How Squirrel Kappler, during his twenty-six years' Monkeys Act stay in Guiana, always contrived to in Captiuiiy. j^p tim.(. ,)t t;„..r Monkeys in cap- tivity, supplying each vacancy by death with a new purchase, and is thus able to speak with intimate knowledge concerning their habits and traits. Ac- cording to him they are called Acalimas and Cabu- anamas by the natives. He says: " The little Monkeys are very cheerful and always active, ex- cept that they sometimes take a nap during the day. They are very easily affected by changes of weather and dislike the cold. I always selected those that were quite young for my collection, and soon taught them to like bread, milk and ripe ba- nanas. In the beginning I let them run at large in the room. They would sometimes suck their thumbs for hours, like babies. The dainty, white little face, black mouth, large bright eyes and engaging manners always produced a favorable impression on everybody. They are not so mischievous as other Monkeys; they easily show anger but soon for- ..,-r--;_ get it. Except under provocation they never bite, and when kindly treated are the merriest little creatures in the world. Sometimes they steal a ride upon the backs of the Pigs which roam in the savannas. Every evening at five o'clock they were let loose in the yard and wildly romped and played around until dusk, when they would come in of their own accord to be locked up in their cage. They were fond of in- sects, but did not know how to distinguish be- tween those that were poisonous and those that were harmless. Igno- rance on this point caused three of mine to lose their lives. They are not docile, and are intellect- ually far below the Capu- chin. When they are comfortable, the)' purr like Kittens; when an- gry, their cries remind one of a Magpie. Most of them were brought to me from the sea-shore, where they jump around on the Awarra palms, which are quite full of thorns, sharp as needles and three inches long. The Indians shoot the moth- ers while bearing their little ones upon their backs, or they shake the young from the trees, where their dams have left them for a time that is intended to be brief. Rarely is one able to procure a male ; nearly all that were brought to me were females." THE OWL MONKEYS. Azara was the first naturalist who introduced to the world the Owl Monkey (Nyctipithecus), which is a most remarkable animal. A little later, Hum- boldt described it ; after him Rengger, Schomburgk and, finally, Bates gave interesting accounts of its habits and traits. To a certain extent the Owl

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