Protecting Monkeys in Dania Beach, Florida

Monkeys are fascinating creatures. They have faces that seem to resemble ours, and they’re intelligent, mischievous and hearty, too. And yet, monkeys face many dangers in the wild, including habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting for bushmeat or traditional medicines, and live capture for the exotic pet trade. Fortunately, scientists and conservationists are working to protect these beautiful and complex mammals.

Most monkeys are arboreal and spend much of their lives in trees, though some species such as baboons and macaques may be found on the ground. Monkeys are omnivorous and eat nuts, fruit, leaves, flowers, vegetables, bark, roots, insects, rodents and birds. They’re also excellent climbers, using their agility to find food and escape predators.

A key feature of monkey behavior is their use of body language to communicate with other members of a troop or between troops. For example, grinning or pulling the lip up to show teeth might look like a smile to us, but it signals aggression to a monkey, Live Science previously reported. Other monkey signals include head bobbing, yawning and jerking the shoulders and heads forward. The cotton-topped tamarin (Clorocebus sabaeus), pictured here, is another striking and rare monkey. Its jet-black coat is accentuated by two tufts of white fur on either side of its face and tail. The monkeys in Dania Beach are a subspecies of the agouti called the Dania colobus, distinguished from other agoutis by their greenish-brown hair, absence of a brow band around the face and plush black “cap” at the top of their heads.