A howler monkey of central South American forests. It grips branches with its long tail and mainly eats leaves.
Adult males are usually black, while females are yellow-brown or olive. Infants are born with golden coats.
At one site in Brazil’s Pantanal, researchers recorded black-and-gold howler monkey calls for a full year to examine their daily and seasonal patterns. Automated recognition detected the species in 89% of recordings with vocal activity, while analysis took only 2% as long as the recording period.
Calls peaked around dawn. Of the calls detected through the year, 74.9% occurred in the wet season, with activity highest in November and December. At the study site, this peak coincided with the period of greatest flowering and fruit production. The authors suggested that calls might help defend major feeding sites, while noting that they could serve other functions too. Call activity was lower at higher relative humidity, but was not related to minimum air temperature. The results show the call patterns recorded over one year at one Pantanal site.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species · Near Threatened (NT) · Global
The global IUCN assessment lists the species as Near Threatened (NT) and records a decreasing population trend. The assessment dated 2015 suspects a 25–30% reduction over three generations (36 years, 2004–2040), citing ongoing habitat loss, hunting pressure and vulnerability to diseases such as yellow fever. It is marked as needing an update. Separately, Argentina’s National Parks biodiversity information system lists the 2025 SAREM category for Argentina as Vulnerable (VU).