The Central American Black Howler's roar, generated by a specialised resonating chamber in its throat, is one of the most powerful sounds any primate in the Americas can produce. It can be clearly heard several kilometres away through the dense jungle. It is the largest Mesoamerican howler monkey and the only one with completely black fur as an adult, a feature that distinguishes it at a glance from its golden-mantled relatives. It lives in small troops that spend much of the day resting in the treetops, calmly digesting a leaf-rich diet that demands much more lethargy than energy, and is today one of the most threatened primates in all of Mesoamerica.
A large primate, the largest of the howler monkeys in Mesoamerica. Adults have completely black fur, lacking the lateral golden mantle of the Mantled Howler. It has a long, prehensile tail, hairless on the underside of the tip. It is distinguished from the Mantled Howler, with which its range overlaps in the south of its distribution, by the complete absence of golden colouring and its somewhat more robust body.
Hand and foot tracks, 7-10 cm long, show 5 humanoid-looking digits and a well-developed opposable thumb. Droppings are irregular and soft, containing abundant poorly digested plant fibre. They are left scattered under trees where the Central American Black Howler feeds or rests.
The Central American Black Howler's presence is primarily revealed by its deep, prolonged roar. This roar is audible at dawn and dusk, and used to mark territory between neighbouring troops without physical contact. Other tracks and signs include shaken branches and remains of half-eaten leaves and fruit fallen under feeding trees.
Humid tropical forest, semi-deciduous forest and mangrove, from lowlands to low mountain areas.
The Central American Black Howler occurs across a restricted strip of Mesoamerica: southern Mexico, Belize, and northern Guatemala, around the Yucatán Peninsula. This is one of the smallest ranges of any American howler monkey.
Primarily folivorous, it feeds on young leaves, supplemented with fruit, flowers and shoots according to seasonal availability, with a diet that requires long periods of rest to digest plant fibre.
The Central American Black Howler lives in small groups, typically comprising a dominant male with several females, or occasionally multiple males. It defends its territory by roaring, rather than through direct physical confrontations with neighbouring troops.
It spends much of the day inactive, resting and digesting. Activity peaks occur at dawn and dusk.
Its populations have suffered a steep decline in recent decades due to accelerated loss of jungle in its already reduced home range. Confirmed local extinctions have occurred in several areas, and increasing fragmentation isolates surviving troops from each other.
Deforestation and forest fragmentation due to agricultural and livestock expansion, electrocution on power lines when moving between forest fragments, increasingly intense hurricanes destroying areas of mature forest, and occasional capture for the pet trade.
See all species accounts for primates · Full species index
Mammaling is a free app for logging the mammals you find. You record a sighting in a moment — even if it's just a track — your life list grows, and the record becomes available to scientific and conservation projects.
It runs on your phone with nothing to install. If you like, it adds to your home screen like any other app.
Open Mammaling