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Callicebus molochdusky titi

By Bret Weinstein

Ge­o­graphic Range

Cen­tral Brazil. Titi mon­keys are only found in the Ama­zon river drainage and around the head-wa­ters of the Orinoco river.

Habi­tat

Low rain­for­est canopy

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

  • Average mass
    804 g
    28.33 oz
    AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Titi mon­keys are monog­a­mous.

Births occur from De­cem­ber to April. Ges­ta­tion pe­riod is un­known. From birth both males and fe­males take 10 months to reach adult size, al­though adult den­ti­tion is not fully pre­sent until at least 15 months.

  • Average number of offspring
    1
    AnAge
  • Average gestation period
    163 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    912 days
    AnAge

Adult males tend to carry in­fants ex­cept when the mother is nurs­ing. Ju­ve­niles leave their fam­ily group after two to three years.

  • Parental Investment
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
  • pre-independence
    • protecting
      • male
  • post-independence association with parents
  • extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Be­hav­ior

Titi mon­keys are gen­er­ally found in low canopy for­est, near rivers. They have been ob­served on the ground in the wild. Fam­ily groups are strongly ter­ri­to­r­ial. A fam­ily group con­sists of an adult male and fe­male and their off­spring from sev­eral sea­sons. Mean group size is 3.3. Like all neotrop­i­cal pri­mates (ex­cept Aotus), titi mon­keys are strongly di­ur­nal. Their daily feed­ing is al­ways in­ter­rupted by a mid-day rest. They typ­i­cally sleep to­gether in a vine en­crusted tree and often re­turn to the same tree night after night. Titi mon­keys are con­sid­er­ably more vocal than most other neotrop­i­cal pri­mates. Their vo­cal­iza­tions are also more com­plex than those made by most other mon­keys. Fam­ily mem­bers groom each other often, es­pe­cially dur­ing the mid-day rest. Within a fam­ily group, a pair of titi mon­keys often sit with tails in­ter­twined. Tail-twin­ing is es­pe­cially com­mon be­tween the adult male and fe­male and takes place when­ever two fam­ily mem­bers are sit­ting to­gether. This is true whether the mon­keys are awake or asleep.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Food Habits

Titi mon­keys eat large amounts of fruit, in­clud­ing figs. They also eat leaves, in­sects, eggs and small ver­te­brates.

  • Animal Foods
  • eggs
  • insects
  • Plant Foods
  • leaves
  • fruit

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

These an­i­mals are threat­ened by the rapid de­struc­tion of their habi­tat. CITES Ap­pen­dix 2.

Con­trib­u­tors

Bret We­in­stein (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

World Map

arboreal

Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

frugivore

an animal that mainly eats fruit

herbivore

An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

monogamous

Having one mate at a time.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

viviparous

reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.

Ref­er­ences

Mam­malian Species #112

Walker's Mam­mals of the World, fifth edi­tion; Nowak, R. ed.; 1991; Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press. pp. 449-450

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Classification

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Mammalia mammals
  • Order Primates primates
  • Family Pitheciidae titi monkeys, sakis, and uakaris
  • Genus Callicebus titi monkeys
  • Species Callicebus moloch dusky titi