Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Aotus lemur­i­nus , com­monly known as the owl mon­key or night mon­key, is found in Cen­tral and South Amer­ica. They occur from Panama to north­east­ern Ar­gentina, and from Peru and Equador to Guyana and Brazil.

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

Owl mon­keys oc­cupy a va­ri­ety of habi­tats. They are found from moist rain­for­est to dry scrub. Aotus lemur­i­nus is most com­mon in dense for­est, where many vines are pre­sent. They can be found in all lev­els of the for­est but are rarely found on the ground.

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• rainforest
• scrub forest

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Aotus lemur­i­nus can be rec­og­nized by its small rounded head and owl-like face. Their brown eyes are large and round. Their thick white eye­brows lie below three black stripes on their head. A large black spot is found be­tween their eyes. The eye­shine from these noc­tur­nal mon­keys is a bright red­dish or­ange. Fur is dense and wooly and is usu­ally grey in color. The color of the un­der­parts of the mon­key ranges from a pale yel­low to a bright or­ange. Their tail is non-pre­hen­sile and mostly black, but may have brown or dark or­ange col­or­ing on it. The tail al­ways has a black tip. Their fin­gers are long and slen­der, with ex­panded pads on the tips. This mon­key ex­hibits no sex­ual di­mor­phism. Weight ranges from 0.5 to 1.3 kg.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Range mass

  0.5 to 1.3 kg

  1.10 to 2.86 lb

• Average mass

  0.0009 kg

  0.00 lb

Re­pro­duc­tion

Aotus lemur­i­nus is a monog­a­mous mam­mal.

• Mating System
• monogamous

Aotus lemur­i­nus reaches sex­ual ma­tu­rity at ap­prox­i­mately 2.5 years of age. Fe­males have an ovar­ian cycle which ranges from 13 to 19 days. There is no ex­ter­nal in­di­ca­tion of es­trous. Males ini­ti­ate re­pro­duc­tion. Rec­i­p­ro­cal groom­ing has been ob­served in this species only prior to mat­ing. Ges­ta­tion pe­riod is 133 days. Fe­males give birth to sin­gle young or some­times twins.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 2

• Average number of offspring

  1

  AnAge

• Average gestation period

  133 days

• Average gestation period

  135 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2.5 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  2.5 years

The male and fe­male both care for the young.

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  33.8 (high) years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

Aotus lemur­i­nus is noc­tur­nal and is most ac­tive sev­eral hours after dusk and be­fore dawn. These mon­keys live in small fam­ily groups con­sist­ing of be­tween 2 to 5 mem­bers, in­clud­ing the adult pair and their off­spring. Dur­ing the day fam­ily groups will sleep ei­ther in tree hol­lows, vine cov­ered trees, or dense brush. They are monog­a­mous, and both par­ents play a role in rais­ing their young. These mon­keys are vocal and have var­i­ous calls rang­ing from soft and low pitched grunts and clicks to louder, owl - like hoots. When dan­ger is sensed they will pro­duce a high - pitched shriek as an alarm sig­nal. They are fairly seden­tary.

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• social

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Aotus lemur­i­nus feeds at night, where they typ­i­cally feed in the canopy. Their diet is broad, in­clud­ing fruit, flower nec­tar, fo­liage, and in­sects. These mon­keys have also been known to feed on small birds and mam­mals.

• Primary Diet
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• fruit
• nectar

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Aotus lemur­i­nus is com­monly used in bio­med­ical re­search.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Aotus lemur­i­nus pop­u­la­tions have suf­fered due to col­lec­tion for bio­med­ical re­search and some hunt­ing.

• IUCN Red List

  Vulnerable
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Vulnerable
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

Con­trib­u­tors

Sarah So­der­man (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

"Aotus, the Owl Mon­key" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 15, 1999 at http://​www.​anthro.​ucdavis.​edu/​~green­berg/aotus/.

Boi­tani, L., S. Boi­tani. 1983. Simon and Schus­ter's Guide to Mam­mals. New York: Simon and Schus­ter.

Em­mons, L., F. Feer. 1990. Neotrop­i­cal Rain­for­est Mam­mals. Chicago: The Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Press.

Reid, F. 1997. A Field Guide to the Mam­mals of Cen­tral Amer­ica and South­east Mex­ico. New York: Ox­ford Uni­ver­sity Press.