What Kind of Animal Is a Saki?

Sakis are a group of five primate species of the genus pithecia. Members of the pitheciidae family, they are a medium-size animal found in a range of forest ecosystems throughout South America. Sakis spend almost their entire lives in the forest's trees. Due to the shyness of saki monkeys, science has only managed to discover details on a few of the known species.

  1. Description

    • Saki monkeys are solidly built animals with bodies of just under 2 feet in length and tails that are just a little longer than that. They have large, round faces which can be pure white, bald with a black furry forehead or various other types, depending on species. The males are slightly larger than the females and the monkeys' legs are always longer than their arms. They have thick, shaggy, coarse-haired coats covering their bodies.

    Habitat and Distribution

    • Sakis are found in the various tropical rain forests of countries such as Brazil, Columbia, Guiana, Venezuela Ecuador and Peru. They are nervous animals and spend their lives high in the forest canopy, which has made them difficult to study by science. The various saki species can be found in lowland and highland forests. They are very agile and able to leap from tree to tree. They do not build any form of leaf nest, like some species, but instead sleep on open branches.

    Diet and Predators

    • Saki monkeys are mainly vegetarians eating ripe forest fruits, nuts, seeds and flowers. Using powerful crushing teeth, the monkeys make short work of tough-shelled foods such as Brazil nuts The monkeys also eat honey leaves, small birds, reptiles and mammals. Sakis have been witnessed raiding tree hole habitats of small bats for food, taking the bats and tearing them apart before removing the furry skin of the animal. Living so high in the canopy, sakis main predators are large birds of prey such as eagles.

    Breeding

    • Saki monkeys live in small family groups that contain several breeding pairs who mate for life. After mating, gestation in most species can take between 160 and 170 days, at which point a single offspring is born. The young monkey clings to the mother for around six months before it is big enough to fend for itself. Usually consisting of around four or five members, a family group has a small canopy home range which it defends using threatening vocalizations.