Proboscis Monkey

From Free net encyclopedia

{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Proboscis Monkey | status = Conservation status: Endangered | image = | image_width = 220px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Mammalia | ordo = Primates | familia = Cercopithecidae | subfamilia = Colobinae | genus = Nasalis | genus_authority = É. Geoffroy, 1812 | species = N. larvatus | binomial = Nasalis larvatus | binomial_authority = (Wurmb, 1787) }}

The Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus, monotypic in genus Nasalis) is a reddish-brown arboreal mainly Sonneratia leaf-eating Old World monkey, found only in the coastal areas of East-Borneo and the Mentawai Islands west of Sumatra, in coastal mangrove swamps and riverine forests.

The most distinctive trait of this monkeys is the male's large protruding nose. The purpose of the large nose is unclear, but it has been suggested that it is simply a result of sexual selection; female Proboscis Monkeys prefer big-nosed mates, thus propagating the trait.

Males are much larger than females, reaching 72 cm (28 inches) in length, with an up to 75 cm tail, and weighing up to 24 kg (53 pounds). Females are up to 60 cm long, weighing up to 12 kg (26 lb).

The Proboscis Monkey also has a large belly, as a result of its diet. Its digestive system is divided into several parts, with distinctive gut flora, which help in digesting leaves. This digestive process releases a lot of gas, resulting in the monkey's "bloated" bellies. A side-effect of this unique digestive system is that it is unable to digest ripe fruit, unlike most other simians. It mostly eats green fruits, seeds, and leaves.

It lives in small groups of 10 to 32 animals. Group membership is very flexible, and animals are known to move from group to group quite often.

The Proboscis Monkey lifestyle is both arboreal and amphibious, with its mangrove swamp and riverine environment containing forest, dry land, shallow water allowing wading, and deep water requiring swimming. Like other similar monkeys, the Proboscis Monkey climbs well. It is also a proficient swimmer, often swimming from island to island, and has been picked up by fishing boats in open ocean a mile from shore. While wading, the monkey uses an upright posture, with the females carrying infants on their hip. Troops have been filmed continuing to walk upright, in single file, along forest trails when they emerge on land, the only non-human mammal known to use this form of locomotion for any length of time.

This monkey is highly endangered, and only about 7000 are known to still exist in the wild. Sarawak official countings in 1977 from 6500 species now 2006 just a 1000 survivors.

[edit]