Howler, HOWLING MONKEY, or STENTOR

Howler, HOWLING MONKEY, or STENTOR (Mycetes), a genus of Central and South American monkeys, remarkable for the dilatation of the hyoid bone into a hollow drum, which communicates with the larynx, makes a conspicu- ous external swelling of the throat, and gives prodigious power to the voice, enabling these animals to emit hideous sounds, which can be heard at least two miles away, and to which all their names refer. They live chiefly among the branches of trees, and take extraordinary leaps from one to another, taking hold by the tail like most of the American Platyrrhine monkeys, as readily as by the hands, and often swinging by it alone. They are gregarious, and unite their voices in concert, so as to produce a most deafening noise; this is what Humboldt and others say, but according to Wallace it is only one individual at a time which causes all the sound. The monkeys of this genus have a low intelligence, and their brain structure bears out this view. A howler was first brought alive to Europe and exhibited at the Zoological Gardens, London, in 1863. There are apparently not more than six species.