A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 1 (of 2)Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Science
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 1 (of 2)
Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Primates
The Brazilian Sub-region includes all the open plains and pasture lands,
surrounded by, or intimately associated with, the forests. Its central mass
consists of the great forest plain of the Amazons, from the north-east
coast of Brazil to high up in the Andes on the west, a stretch of more than
2,000 miles; and from the mouth of the Orinoko to near La Paz in the
Bolivian Andes, a distance of 1,900 miles, of continuous forest in both
directions. Within this area are some open "campos" or patches of pasture
lands, along several of the tributaries of the Amazon, and Llanos--open
flat plains generally flooded in the wet season--on the northern bank of
the Orinoko. Unbroken forest also covers the country from Panama southwards
by the Magdalena Valley along the western aspect of the {248}Andes to
Guayaquil. There is a very arid tract on the northeast coast of Brazil; but
south of Cape San Roque the coast forests extend to 30° south latitude,
"clothing all the valleys and hill-sides as far inland as the higher
mountain ranges, and even penetrating up the great valleys far into the
interior. To the south-west the forest country reappears in Paraguay, and
extends in patches and partly wooded country till it almost reaches the
southern extension of the Amazonian forests. The interior of Brazil is thus
in the position of a great island plateau, rising out of, and surrounded
by, a lowland region of ever-verdant forests." Of its Anthropoid life the
Woolly Monkeys (_Lagothrix_), the Sakis (_Pithecia_), and the Uakaris
(_Brachyurus_) are confined to its Amazonian forests. The Woolly
Spider-Monkeys (_Brachyteles_) keep to the wooded coast-regions of
South-east Brazil, while the Titis (_Callithrix_) do not range out of the
tropics of South America. The Howlers (_Alouatta_), the Spider-Monkeys
(_Ateles_), and the Capuchins (_Cebus_) roam nearly over the whole
region--the first and last ranging from Costa Rica to Paraguay as well. The
Spider-Monkeys indeed extend over to the west side of the Equatorial Andes,
and in Guatemala across to the Pacific coast. No species of Monkey,
however, is known to inhabit the western side of the Andes, to the south of
the Gulf of Guayaquil.
THE BABOONS, GUEREZAS AND LANGURS. FAMILY CERCOPITHECIDÆ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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