PHAYRE'S LEAF MONKEY More Life
Video: Watch macaques soak in a thermal spa.
Interact: Explore the anatomy of a hamadryas baboon. HowStuffWorks: Do Japanese monkeys season their food? Mammals are well-known for the care they bestow on their young. For the Phayre's leaf monkey, a silver primate native to the forests of Southeast Asia, keeping track of their newborns is made easier by the babies' vivid orange coloring. Parents, however, may have some competition.
PARENTAL PRIMATES
The easily spotted babies get passed around among the younger adult monkeys, who seize the opportunity (and the babies) to work on their parenting skills. All of this attention works in the babies' favor; they won't be unguarded and will have plenty of care, protection and access to food.
Once the little monkeys mature, their fur will shift toward the subtler silver-gray color, signaling that they are now integrated into the group, which may number as small as three animals or as large as 40 (occasionally these animals live alone). This color-change process begins about three months after birth. Footage from the "Primates" episode of Life captures one of the little leaf monkeys whose fur has already turned silver.
The group dynamic is useful when confronted with predators or unexpected visitors. The females grab their young and split for safety. The males remain to try to defend their territory and use their bark to intimidate anyone, or anything, approaching.
...AND VOCAL CREATURES
The bark is one of several calls that these highly vocal animals will use. Primatologists have classified three distinct calls belonging to Phayre's leaf monkeys. The first is a loud call, similar to a roar. The second is a "whoo call," a quieter sound that the adult males use to tell their fellows that something may be wrong, perhaps that a predator is in the area. The third sound is the "cheng-kong call," a two-part honking sound, also produced by adult males, that signals the group to gather.
Thanks to hunting by humans and habitat loss, Phayre's leaf monkeys are endangered, according to the IUCN Red List, which monitors the conservation status of many plant and animal species.
Written by Jacob Silverman, HowStuffWorks
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