Characteristics of Populations
Population density: In Suriname is 7.1 individuals/km2 and in French Guiana, 8.57 individuals/km2.
Population distribution: These species particularly range in places like Brazil, Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana.
Population dispersion: Clumped dispersion – black spider monkeys divide themselves into small groups around the vast area they inhabit so that resources are found easier. Males remain in their natal troops while females transfer between troops in search of mating opportunities
Age structure: Black spider monkeys can survive 22-25 years in the wild and about 35 years in captivity. The oldest spider monkey in captivity lived to be 46 years old, however only a few live past 40.
Genetic Diversity: Recently black spider monkeys were listed as endangered due to the massive loss of forest across the subcontinent. The National Library of Medicine studied and analyzed the genetic diversity across a human-dominated landscape in Central America to better understand the sustainability of black spider monkey populations in distributed landscapes. They found out black spider monkeys may be able to maintain genetic diversity when isolated into smaller populations, so a lack of genetic structure and high diversity in the study population would suggest that this species could persist in disturbed landscapes. However, considering the high rate of habitat loss, they took a hypothesis that the long history of agriculture and forest disturbance on this landscape has resulted in a lower genetic diversity compared to spider monkeys in continuous forest.
Carrying Capacity: While the average troop size of the spider monkey is about 24-36 spider monkeys, the capacity for any troop size is estimated to be 70 individuals, however not every black spider monkey troop would be able to reach this capacity due to the limited resources in the forest environment.