Mammals in Costa Rica and Guatemala

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Howler monkeys are famous for their loud call, which can be heard almost 5 km away. They have an enlarged hyoid bone, which enables them to produce this incredibly loud noise. The main function of the howling is probably to guard the territory of the troop.

The generic name is a corruption of arawata, the Carib name of the Venezuelan red howler monkey (A. seniculus).

 

The specific name is derived from the Latin pallium, a large cloak, worn by Greek philosophers. In this case, it refers to the tuft of long hairs on the sides of this animal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All species of spider monkeys are threatened due to habitat destruction and hunting for food, and two species, the black-headed (A. fusciceps) and the brown (A. hybridus), are critically endangered.

The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek ateleia (‘incomplete’ or ‘imperfect’), alluding to the reduced or non-existent thumbs of these monkeys.

 

Spider monkeys of the Yucatan Peninsula and northern Guatemala are variously treated as belonging to subspecies vellerosus or yucatanensis, the latter now discarded by a number of authorities, whereas animals from northern Costa Rica, known as the red spider monkey, belong to subspecies ornatus. This subspecies is illustrated at the top of this page.

The specific name was given in honour of French naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The latter evolved into a large number of families, of which the Canidae, about 12 mio. years ago, split into three groups:

Canini includes wolf-like dogs, and South American dogs and foxes.

Vulpini includes typical foxes, bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis), and raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides).

Urocyon (see below).

 

The genus includes the grey fox (below) and the island fox (U. littoralis), the latter restricted to 6 of the 8 Californian Channel Islands.

The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek oura (‘tail’) and kyon (‘dog’), thus ‘tailed dog’ – a strange name for dogs, most of which have long, bushy tails.

 

The specific name is Latin, meaning ‘of ashes and silver’, i.e. ‘ash- and silver-coloured’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek kebos, the term for a kind of long-tailed monkey.

The word capuchin derives from a group of Franciscan friars, named the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, which arose in 1520, when Italian friar Matteo da Bascio claimed that God had informed him that the manner of life led by his contemporary friars was not the one, which St. Francis of Assisi had dictated. The friars of this order wear brown robes with pointed hoods, called capuche. When the conquistadors reached Central America late in the 15th Century, they noticed some small monkeys, whose colouring resembled these friars, so they named them capuchins. (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capuchin_monkey)

 

In the West, it is one of the best known of all monkeys, as it was often the faithful companion of the organ grinder, who would walk from town to town, playing his organ, while his monkey would perform a dance.

Until recently, this animal was considered conspecific with the Columbian white-headed capuchin (C. capucinus), which is found in coastal areas from eastern Panama southwards to Ecuador.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek dasus (‘hairy’) and proktos (‘anus’). The common name stems from a native language, either Guarani or Tupi.

 

The specific name may refer to its pelt, which has mingled yellowish and black hairs, giving the animal a ‘punctuated’ appearance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The family name is derived from Ancient Greek myrmekos, genitive of myrmex (‘ant’), and ephagon (‘to eat’).

 

The generic name is the Tupi-Guarani word for these animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two other coatis are placed in the genus Nasuella.

Coatis are very social, living in bands counting up to 30 animals, consisting of females with offspring. Adult males usually live alone. Previously, biologists presumed that all females in a band were blood-related, because a female will often take care of the offspring of another female, allowing her to feed freely. However, research has shown that not all females in a group are blood-related. Some unrelated females simply form a friendship, and these friends are so well trusted that a female will often let her friend take care of her young, while she is out feeding. This behaviour also allows a female to bring her young into the band from her nest much earlier than she could otherwise have done, because other females will guard her young.

For a short period of time each year, a male coati will join a band to mate with as many females as possible. But as males are known to often kill and eat young coatis, the females soon become aggressive and chase him away from the band. When a mother brings her newborn young into a band, the male will re-join the group for a short period, sniffing all the young he has fathered, thus being able to recognize them later and avoid eating his own offspring!

 

It is described in depth on the page Animals – Mammals: Long-nosed coatis – charming bandits.

The specific name is derived from the Latin naris (‘nasal cavity’).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The family name is derived from Sciurus, the Latin name applied by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) in 1758 to the Eurasian red squirrel (S. vulgaris). The word squirrel, which has been in use as early as 1327, is from the Anglo-Norman name esquirel, which is again from the Old French escurel, a corruption of the Latin sciurus, which is derived from Ancient Greek skia (‘shadow’) and oura (‘tail’), thus ‘shadow-tailed’, alluding to the habit of some squirrels to raise their bushy tails over the body, thus creating shade.

Many species of squirrel are presented on the page Animals – Mammals: Squirrels.

 

An extensive genetic study from 2020 (Abreu et al. 2020) concludes that the genus is paraphyletic and should be split into 11 or 12 genera, leaving only 3 species in Sciurus. However, this suggestion has not been widely accepted, and for the time being I retain the older concept of the genus.

 

This animal lives in various types of forest, from sea level to an elevation of about 3,000 m. It is confiding and often occurs in picnic grounds.

The specific name refers to a Spanish enclave named Virreinato de Nueva Granada (‘The Viceroyalty of New Granada’) – an area, which in the 1700s covered present-day Panama, Columbia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

 

 

 

 

 

As the specific and popular names imply, the coat of this species varies considerably, not only between the 15 subspecies, but also between individuals in the same population.