the.com/spider monkey
A tail that works harder than most limbs, attached to a monkey built like a shrug.
means A long-limbed, long-tailed New World monkey that uses its prehensile tail almost like a fifth hand to swing through the rainforest canopy.
from Named simply and visually in English — 'spider' for the way its gangly arms, legs, and grasping tail splay out as it swings, making the whole body look like a spider dangling and reaching through the trees. The genus name Ateles, given by naturalists, comes from Greek 'ateles' meaning 'imperfect' or 'incomplete' — a reference to its reduced or absent thumb, not its intelligence or build.
- tail power
- prehensile tail strong enough to hang its whole body
- thumbs
- no thumbs, just four long hook-like fingers
- habitat
- rarely touches the ground, lives entirely in canopy
- diet
- mostly ripe fruit, basically a picky connoisseur