Squirrel Monkey

The Squirrel Monkeys are the New World monkeys of the genus Saimiri. They are the only genus in the subfamily Saimirinae. Squirrel Monkeys live in the tropical forests of Central and South America in the canopy layer. Most species have para- or allopatric ranges in the Amazon, while S. oerstedii is found disjunctly in Costa Rica and Panama.

Squirrel Monkey fur is short and close, colored olive at the shoulders and yellowish orange on its back and extremities. Their throat and the ears are white and their mouths are black. The upper part of their head is hairy. This black-and-white face gives them the name "death's head monkey" in several Germanic languages.

Squirrel Monkeys grow to 25 to 35 cm, plus a 35 to 42 cm tail. They weigh 750 to 1100g. Remarkably, the brain mass to body mass ratio for squirrel monkeys is 1:17, which gives them the largest brain, proportionately, of all the primates.

Like most of their New World monkey relatives, Squirrel Monkeys are diurnal and arboreal.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_monkey - 09.04.2010