Feeding
The diets of spider monkeys consist of about 90% fruits and nuts. They can live for long periods on only one or two kinds of fruits and nuts. They eat the fruits of many big forest trees, and because they swallow fruits whole, the seeds are eventually excreted and fertilized by the feces. Studies show the diet of spider monkeys changes their reproductive, social, and physical behavioral patterns. Most feeding happens from dawn to 10 am. Afterward, the adults rest while the young play. Through the rest of the day, they may feed infrequently until around 10 pm. If food is scarce, they may eat insects, bark and honey.
Spider monkeys have a unique way of getting food: a lead female is generally responsible for finding food sources. If she cannot find enough food for the group, it splits into smaller groups that forage separately. The traveling groups have four to 9 animals. Each group is closely associated with its territory. If the group is big, it spreads out.
Read more about this topic: Spider Monkey
Famous quotes containing the word feeding:
“How did you feel feeding doughnuts to a horse? Had a kick out of it, huh? Got a big laugh. Did you ever think of feeding doughnuts to a human being? No!”
—Robert Riskin (1897–1955)
“It no longer makes sense to speak of “feeding problems” or “sleep problems” or “negative behavior” is if they were distinct categories, but to speak of “problems of development” and to search for the meaning of feeding and sleep disturbances or behavior disorders in the developmental phase which has produced them.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“The will to domination is a ravenous beast. There are never enough warm bodies to satiate its monstrous hunger. Once alive, this beast grows and grows, feeding on all the life around it, scouring the earth to find new sources of nourishment. This beast lives in each man who battens on female servitude.”
—Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946)