Their full name is black crowned Central American squirrel Monkeys and can be found in the tropics.

Here are some truths about them:

1. Unlike the other New World monkeys, their tail is not used for climbing, but as a kind of “balancing pole” and as a tool.

2. Squirrel monkey’s fur is short and close. Its color is olive at the shoulders and yellowish orange on its back and extremities. Their throat and the ears are white and their mouths are black. Their head is orange or reddish-orange in color, with a black cap.

3. Squirrel monkeys love eating fruits and insects. Occasionally they also eat nuts, buds, eggs and small vertebrates.

4. Squirrel monkeys are very small. They only grow up to 25 to 35 cm, plus a 35 to 42 cm tail.

5. They live about 15 years old in the wild and about 20 years in captivity.

6. Their movements in the branches are extremely speedy.

7. They live together in multi-male/multi-female groups with up to 500 members. These large groups can, however, occasionally break into smaller troops.

8. By 1983, the Central American squirrel monkey had already declined drastically by deforestation. Currently, deforestation and habitat fragmentation due to agriculture and tourism development are still the major causes of decline. Insecticide spraying, the pet trade and electrocution from electric power lines have also negatively affected these monkeys.

9. Squirrel monkeys spread urine on the bottoms of the hands and feet. So other monkeys can smell this as it marks the territory.

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I believe most of us have heard about sloths, but do we really know their best kept secrets?

1. Sloths are extremely slow-moving mammals. Actually they are the world’s slowest mammal, so sedentary that algae grow on its furry coat.

2. Their hair is grayish brown but, at times they look grey-green in color because of the tiny camouflaging algae that grows all over their coats.

3. Sloths are omnivores. They may eat insects, small reptiles, and birds, but their most common food consists mostly of buds, tender shoots, and leaves.

4. Altogether, sloths’ bodies usually are anywhere between 50 and 60 cm long. They also have stubby tails, usually 6–7 cm long. These guys’ weight can be 8.75 pounds.

5. The average amount of years a sloth lives is 20 years. Although there have been 40 year old sloths.

6. Most people used to think that sloths slept 18 hours a day. But a recent study indicated that sloths sleep just under 10 hours a day.

7. They go to the ground to urinate and defecate about once a week, digging a hole and covering it afterwards. They go to the same spot each time and are vulnerable to predation while doing so.

8. Mothers also give birth to their babies upside down. Infant sloths normally cling to their mother’s fur.

9. Females normally bear one baby every year. But sometimes sloths’ low level of movement actually keeps females from finding males for longer than one year. They also mate while hanging.

10. They have an extra neck vertebra that allows them to turn their heads 270 degrees.

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Not many of us know about the silky anteater. This is your chance to get to know them:

1. Silky anteaters are the smallest anteater species in the world. They have a total length ranging from 3.6 to 4.5 cm and usually weighing less than 0.88 pounds.

2. They have a dense and soft golden brown fur, short snout, partially prehensile tail and two enlarged claws in each fore paw.

3. The Silky Anteater is a slow moving animal and feeds mainly on ants, between 100 and 8000 a day. Sometimes it can also feed on other insects, such as termites and small beetles.

4. Silky anteaters do not have very long lives. The average is of 2 years.

5. It is a nocturnal, arboreal and solitary animal. During the day they typically sleep curled up in a ball in some tree branch.

6. Although they are rarely seen in the forest, it is said that they can be found more easily when they are foraging on lianas at night.

7. A female silky anteater gives birth to a single young that is usually placed inside a nest of dead leaves built in tree holes.

8. Silky anteater numbers are relatively stable, but they are being negatively affected by how fast their habitat is being destructed.

9. Because they rarely descend from trees, they obtain their water from licking moisture, such as dew or rainwater, from leaves.

10. Silky anteaters can be found in lowland rain forests with continuous canopy where they can move to different places without the need to descend from trees.

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