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The howler monkey is the largest monkey in the new world group, and is also the loudest. Believed to be the loudest animal on earth, its signature howl can be heard from 3km away in the forest, and over 5km over open ground. Only the males howl, and they believe the monkey developed this behavior to avoid confrontation, as the animal is rather lazy. The reason for the calls loudness is that the monkeys have a special bone in their jaw, called a hyoid bone, which works to enhance its howl. These monkeys dwell in the canopy, and eat the most leaves of all new world monkeys. Like other leaf eaters, they have an enlarged intestine filled with bacteria to help break down the cellulose in the leaves. They are lazy; they generally sleep 15 hours a day and only cover 400m per day. Like most new world monkeys, they have a prehensile tail strong enough to function as another hand. Their social groups have about 20 members, but they occasionally gather in groups of about 60 monkeys. The males are the dominant gender, controlling the group, the females are generally peaceful. The monkeys share a trait with lions in which if a new male takes over a group, he kills all the former leaders� offspring, so the females will rear his offspring. The monkeys are threatened by habitat loss and hunting, their loud call doesn�t exactly work to hide them. |
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