Azara's night monkey (''Aotus azarae''), also known as the southern night monkey, is a

night monkey Night monkeys, also known as owl monkeys or douroucoulis (), are nocturnal New World monkeys of the genus ''Aotus'', the only member of the family Aotidae (). The genus comprises eleven species which are found across Panama and much of South Ame ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

from South America. It is found in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. The species is

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of dyadic relationship in which an individual has only one partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time ( serial monogamy) — as compared to the various forms of non-monogamy (e.g., polyg ...

, with the males providing a large amount of

parental care Parental care is a behavioural and evolutionary strategy adopted by some animals, involving a parental investment being made to the evolutionary fitness of offspring. Patterns of parental care are widespread and highly diverse across the animal k ...

. It is named after

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

naturalist Félix de Azara. Although primarily

nocturnal Nocturnality is an ethology, animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have ...

, some populations of Azara's night monkey are unique among night monkeys in being active both day and night. The species is listed as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Taxonomy

There are three subspecies of Azara's night monkey. * ''Aotus azarae azarae'' * Bolivian night monkey, ''Aotus azarae boliviensis'' * Feline night monkey, ''Aotus azarae infulatus''

Physical characteristics

Due to a lack of data body size and weight measurements of Azara's night monkey have been estimated from a small number of wild samples. The average head and body length of the female is while the male is . The average weight is for male ''A. a. azarae'', for female ''A. a. azarae'', for male ''A. a. boliviensis'', and for female ''A. a. boliviensis''. Its gestation period is about 133 days. The lifespan for Azara's night monkey is unknown, but the captive life span for members of the genus ''Aotus'' is believed to be 20 years.

Behavior and ecology

Azara's night monkey is a

species, with the male remaining present to raise the offspring and provide food. The offspring will only stay with its family until two to three years of age and then will disperse to begin a family of its own. There is very little sexual dimorphism in this species. Azara's night monkey is primarily a

frugivore A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

, but also will eat things such as leaves,

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

s, and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s. One of the main advantages of being a nocturnal animal is that there is greatly reduced competition from diurnal animals. Azara's night monkey spends its life in trees and becomes more active when the moon is brighter, tending to keep to its well-known paths. However, uniquely among night monkeys, populations of Azara's night monkey from the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Gros ...

are active both day and night. Azara's night monkey can be found sleeping in groups of between 2 and 5 others in trees. The average

group size Many animals, including humans, tend to live in groups, herds, flocks, bands, packs, shoals, or colonies (hereafter: groups) of conspecific individuals. The size of these groups, as expressed by the number of people/etc in a group such as eight ...

is about 3 monkeys, consisting of an adult pair and their offspring. It leaps from tree to tree but also moves quadrupedally throughout the forest.

Habitat and distribution

Azara's night monkey is found in northern

, central

and far southeastern

. Its range includes the southern

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

, ranging into more open habitats such as the

. ''Aotus a. azarae'' is found in

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate abov ...

and semi-

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

forest, ''A. a. infulatus'' is found in humid lowland forest and gallery forest, and ''A. a. infulatus'' is found in various forest types. The last has been recorded as high as in the

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S l ...

foothills.

Conservation

Azara's night monkey is widespread and believed to be overall fairly common. It is present in several reserves. The species is not considered threatened, but is declining locally due to habitat loss.

References

External links

''Aotus azarae''
information at ThePrimata.

at MD Anderson. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1365852 Azara's night monkey Mammals of Brazil Mammals of Bolivia Mammals of Argentina Mammals of Peru Mammals of Paraguay Azara's night monkey Taxa named by Alexander von Humboldt