| Bearded sakis[1] | |
|---|---|
-8b.jpg) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | Pitheciidae |
| Subfamily: | Pitheciinae |
| Genus: | Chiropotes Lesson, 1840 |
| Type species | |
| Chiropotes satanas | |
| Species | |
Chiropotes satanas | |
Thebearded sakis, orcuxiús,[2] are five or six species ofpitheciidNew World monkeys, classified in the genusChiropotes. They live in the eastern and centralAmazon inSouth America, ranging through southernVenezuela,Guyana,Suriname,French Guiana and northern and centralBrazil. The species are entirelyallopatric, their distributions being separated by major rivers.
Bearded sakis differ from the closely relatedsaki monkeys of the genusPithecia by a pronounced beard, a tuft of hair that extends from its jaw, down its throat to the top of its chest, and is strongly pronounced particularly in the males. The tail is long and hairy, and is used for balance and not grasping. Bearded sakis reach from 32 to 51 cm (13 to 20 in) in size and a weight from 2 to 4 kg (4.4 to 8.8 lb).
Like many New World monkeys, bearded sakis arediurnal andarboreal. They inhabittropical rainforests, usually in the crowns of tree. They move on all four by the branches, spending most of the day searching for food. At the night they sleep clasped to thicker branches, never spending successive nights in the same tree. Bearded sakis live together in groups of approximately 18 to 30 animals. Within the group they communicate with bird-like twitter and high whistles. Sometimes they mingle with otherprimates such ascapuchin andsquirrel monkeys.
Fruits form the main part of the diet of the bearded sakis, but they also eat nuts, buds, leaves, insects and smallvertebrates.
Once a year (usually in early autumn or late summer) the female bears a single offspring after a 5-month gestation. After about three months it begins to explore its environment independently and on it is briefly cured. Bearded sakis reach full maturity at 4 years of age. Their life expectancy is approximately 15 years.
Bearded sakis are highly sensitive to hunting andhabitat destruction. Consequently, two of the five species recognized byIUCN (they do not recognizeC. israelita, but do recognizeC. sagulatus) are considered at leastvulnerable, withC. satanas beingendangered.[3]
Thegenus nameChiropotes comes fromAncient Greekχείρ (kheír), meaning "hand", andποτης (potēs), meaning "drinker", as thetype species was observed immersing their hands in water and then bringing them to their mouth to drink. This behaviour was later found to be widespread among monkey species and not a distinguishing feature of this genus.[4]
Until recently, only two species were recognized in this genus, butC. israelita was re-validated in 2003 (having long been considered asynonym ofChiropotes), where it – based on differences in colour of pelage,karyotype, andmolecular analysis – also was recommended treatingC. chiropotes andC. utahickae as species separate fromC. satanas.[5] TheIUCN note the taxonomic confusion, but listsC. sagulatus as a valid species, withC. israelita as a synonym.[6]
