Gibbons are the exception, they can swing, walk and climb, and they can jump. From a standing start, a 10m tree-to-tree leap is not a problem for the gibbon. Gibbons are at home in the high canopy of tropical forests, but they are relatively heavy and the gaps between trees are too large to travel by swinging alone.

They can travel at a speed of up to 34 miles per hour which is around the same speed as a galloping racehorse. Unlike most primates, gibbons frequently form long-term pair bonds and sometimes mate for life.

Their dramatic form of locomotion, called brachiating, can move gibbons through the jungle at up to 35 miles an hour, bridging gaps as wide as 50 feet with a single swinging leap.

This type of movement is called brachiation. It allows gibbons to reach average speeds of about 35 miles per hour and propel themselves from one tree to another over distances of up to 50 feet.

35 miles per hour

Monkeys are capable of swinging on vines, but this is not nearly as common as Hollywood movies seem to indicate.

Yes, there are vines in the jungle that are strong enough to support the weight of a human. Yes, they are frequently dense enough that a Ninja Warrior competitor could traverse such an area by moving from vine to vine. And yes, many of them are flexible enough that you could get a little bit of swinging motion on them.

Vines are often woody, as in the sort that Tarzan was conveniently able to use, swinging from tree to tree. Vines owe their climbing skill to a variety of techniques.

Monkeys swing on trees because they, like us humans, have evolved shoulders capable of reaching above their heads and moving back and forth.

Brachiation (from “brachium”, Latin for “arm”), or arm swinging, is a form of arboreal locomotion in which primates swing from tree limb to tree limb using only their arms. This form of locomotion is the primary means of locomotion for the small gibbons and siamangs of southeast Asia.

Their bite can prove deadly because it can cause anaphylactic shock in humans, killing them. Researchers think the new species, Nycticebus kayan, went undiscovered for so long because it is nocturnal.

Monkey Tree Swing Monkey swings are wild. With only one suspension point they swing in all directions and with only one rope to hang onto they present a challenge even to the older riders.

Infanticide by females other than the mother have been observed in wild groups of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). Most cases of such behavior have been attributed to the resource competition hypothesis, in which females can gain more access to resources for herself and for her young by killing unrelated infants.

They do not actually throw the branches, but twist to cause the branch to fall closer to the threat. The monkeys also defecate and urinate toward the intruder. Spider monkeys are diurnal and spend the night sleeping in carefully selected trees.

Spider monkeys hug each other and wrap their tails around each other. They are very intelligent and have robust memories.

“Males are friendly to each other, spending hours mutually grooming and falling asleep hugging. But they are aggressive towards females and attempt to dominate them,” Jahme writes. To keep up their strength, they eat more ripe fruits than females, often chasing the females away from fruiting trees.

Other than humans, jaguars and pumas appear to be the only significant predator of adult spider monkeys. Eagles and large snakes are also potential predators.