They are found in Southern Mexico, Central America, and in South America in Colombia and Ecuador.
They live in the rainforest.
A big, black monkey with a long tail and a mantel of lighter-colored guard hairs that comes down their sides. Their tail can grip like a hand (prehensile) and can be more than two feet long (67 cm). They have a dark furless face and a dark mane around the face that makes them looked bearded. This "beard" is larger in males. Males can weigh up to 15 pounds (7 kg). Females are smaller.
They live up in the trees in groups of up to 20 monkeys. The more dominant males groom the less dominant monkeys in their troop. They are territorial, the males keeping other groups of howler monkeys away with their loud, booming howls. They move through the trees by walking, climbing, and running. Males will leap from tree to tree more than females and spend more time higher up in the canopy. Younger females have more young, while older females do more food collection. They spend a good portion of the day resting and digesting.
They eat leaves, flowers and fruits. They play a role in seed dispersal and germination as the seeds go through their digestive tract.
Females are pregnant for about 6 months (gestation) and have one baby. Babies will cling to their mothers and nurse for several weeks. They begin eating leaves when 3-4 weeks old and by three months start to spend time away from mother feeding.
Males can live up about seven years in the wild. Females live longer – about twelve years. They are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation in some of its range but have healthy populations in other areas.
Kingdom: Chordata
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Atelidae
Genus: Alouatta
Species: Alouatta palliata
