Peruvian spider monkey
Ateles chamek (Humboldt, 1812)
The peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek) is a species in the family Atelidae, order Primates. Recorded adults weigh 6 kg to 7.29 kg and live up to 37 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Endangered.

Quick facts about the peruvian spider monkey
- Weight
- 6 kg – 7.29 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 37 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Frugivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 46 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 205 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4.25 years – 4.36 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the peruvian spider monkey live?
Not recorded
What is the peruvian spider monkey?
The Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek), also known as the black-faced black spider monkey, is a species of spider monkey that lives in Peru, as well as in Brazil and in Bolivia. At 60 centimetres (2 feet) long, they are relatively large among species of monkey, and their strong, prehensile tails can be up to 1 m (3 ft) long. Unlike many species of monkey, they have only a vestigial thumb, an adaptation which enables them to travel using brachiation. Peruvian spider monkeys live in groups of 20–30 individuals, but these groups are rarely all together simultaneously. The size and dynamics of the resulting subgroups vary with food availability and sociobehavioral activity. They prefer to eat fleshy fruit, but will change their diet in response to scarcity of ripe fruit. Individuals of this species also eat small animals, insects and leaves based on availability. Females separate from the band to give birth, typically in the fall. These females inhabit a group of core areas where resources are abundant in certain seasons. Typically, males exhibit ranging over longer distances than females, with movement of individuals enhancing the fluidity of subgroup size. Peruvian spider monkey are independent at about 10 months, with a lifespan of about 20 years.
From the Wikipedia article “Peruvian spider monkey” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peruvian_spider_monkey&oldid=1356900101), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the peruvian spider monkey endangered?
The peruvian spider monkey is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species.
How is the peruvian spider monkey classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderPrimates
- familyAtelidae
- genusAteles
- SpeciesAteles chamek (Humboldt, 1812)
Synonyms Ateles ater peruvianus, Ateles longimembris, Ateles peruvianus, Simia chamek
Other names and names in other languages (33)
- Black spider monkeyEnglish
- Black-faced black spider monkeyEnglish
- Black-faced black spider monkeyEnglish
- Chamek spider monkeyEnglish
- Chamek spider monkeyEnglish
- Peruvian black spider monkeyEnglish
- Peruvian black spider monkeyEnglish
- سعدان عنكبوتي بيروفيArabic
- chápan chamekCzech
- Peruviansk edderkoppeabeDanish
- SchwarzgesichtklammeraffeGerman
- Schwarzgesicht-KlammeraffeGerman
- Μαύρος ΑραχνοπίθηκοςGreek
- MarimonoSpanish
- MaquisapaSpanish
- Mono Araña negroSpanish
- Mono Araña PeruanoSpanish
- acrenhämähäkkiapinaFinnish
- Atèle à face noireFrench
- Atèle à tête noireFrench
- Singe-araignée à tête noireFrench
- fekete pókmajomHungarian
- Atele peruvianoItalian
- ペルークロクモザルJapanese
- ZwartgezichtslingeraapDutch
- czepiak czarnolicyPolish
- Coatá-pretoPortuguese
- Macaco-aranha-de-cara-pretaPortuguese
- Macaco-aranha-peruanoPortuguese
- MakisapaQuechua
- ЧамекRussian
- Kara yüzlü yünlü örümcek maymunuTurkish
- 秘魯蜘蛛猴Chinese
Relatives of the peruvian spider monkey
Other species in the same genus Ateles.

Geoffroy's spider monkey
Ateles geoffroyi

Red-faced spider monkey
Ateles paniscus

Black-headed spider monkey
Ateles fusciceps

Brown spider monkey
Ateles hybridus

White-bellied spider monkey
Ateles belzebuth

White-cheeked spider monkey
Ateles marginatus
ComparePeruvian spider monkey vs Geoffroy's spider monkeyPeruvian spider monkey vs Red-faced spider monkeyPeruvian spider monkey vs Black-headed spider monkeyPeruvian spider monkey vs Brown spider monkey
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the peruvian spider monkey?
An adult peruvian spider monkey weighs 6 kg – 7.29 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the peruvian spider monkey endangered?
The peruvian spider monkey is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
How long does the peruvian spider monkey live?
The peruvian spider monkey has a recorded lifespan of 37 years.
How long is the peruvian spider monkey pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 205 days.
What kind of animal is the peruvian spider monkey?
The peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek) belongs to the family Atelidae in the order Primates.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/peruvian-spider-monkey
“Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/peruvian-spider-monkey.
@misc{peruvian_spider_monkey_2026,
title = {Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/peruvian-spider-monkey},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}