NEW WORLD MONKEYS 65 



SPIDER MONKEYS. 



The Spider Monkeys are grouped together in a genus 

 to which has been given the name Ateles, which betokens 

 the deprivation of joints : some of the animals possess no 

 thumb and in others it is very rudimentary. To their small 

 bodies is attached a diminutive head, long, slender limbs, 

 and a very long prehensile tail. There is no wonder that 

 a humorous writer likened the Spider Monkey to five black 

 ropes tied in a knot to represent the head and body, the 

 dangling rope-ends being the legs and tail. 



A prehensile tail is in reality a fifth hand, and why Nature 

 should have denied the Old World monkeys such an advan- 

 tage is inexplicable. A prehensile appendage is nearly as 

 useful to a monkey as is a trunk to an elephant. If the 

 former discover some dainty, such as eggs or insects, in 

 a cranny too small to allow it to insert a paw, the end 

 of the tail is requisitioned to hook out the desired object. 



Thick and strong where the tail is united to the body, 

 it rapidly decreases in circumference towards the end, where 

 it is very slender and devoid of hair on the under surface 

 to allow of a nicer application in grasping. Quite involun- 

 tarily it forms a hook-like curve, just as readily as the claws 

 of a bird contract when in the act of perching. It is next 

 to an impossibility for the monkey to fall, for it seldom 

 moves without twisting the tail round a branch. Even 

 when shot it will hang by its appendage until long after 

 death in some cases until decomposition sets in. 



On the ground the Spider Monkey cannot walk on its 

 hind feet, but it can run upon them for a few yards, 

 balancing itself by raising its long arms over its head, and 

 still more by bending the tail over its back in the shape of 

 the letter S. 



A traveller relates an incident of which he was an eye- 

 witness. He was exploring a stream that flowed into the 

 Amazon, and had reached a point where the trees on the 

 banks nearly met overhead. It was not prudent to proceed 

 or return in the dark, and the boat was anchored in mid- 

 stream. 



' The air was full of strange sounds, made by birds and 



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