them to be able to identify and memorize many different types of foods and their locations. Diet Geoffroy's spider monkey eats mostly fruit – preferably ripe and fleshy – and spends 70% to 80% of its feeding time eating fruit. Leaves make up most of the rest of its diet. Young leaves are especially important to provide the protein that can be lacking in fruit. Other elements of its diet include flowers, bark, insects, honey, seeds and buds. In addition to providing much of the monkey's nutritional needs, fruit and leaves provide much of its water requirements. Like other spider monkeys, Geoffroy's spider monkey drinks water from tree holes and bromeliads in trees, but unlike other spider monkeys, it also drinks from terrestrial water sources. Predators Large cats – jaguars and pumas – appear to be the only significant adult spider monkey predators, other than humans. Eagles and large snakes are also potential predators. However, predation of Geoffroy's spider monkey has not been observed by researchers. Reproduction Females bear young every two to four years. Among males, mating is not restricted to only dominant individuals. In one study at Barro Colorado Island, all males in the group were observed mating at least once over a one-year period. However, dominant males appear to mate more often than low-ranking males. It is unknown whether male dominance is correlated with greater success in fathering offspring. Geoffroy's spider monkeys mate in a sitting position, both facing the same direction, with the male seated behind the female and his arms wrapped around her chest and legs wrapped around her waist. This embrace can last between 8 and 22 minutes. Prior to mating, the male and female both separate themselves from the rest of the group, so they are alone except for any of the female's juvenile offspring. The gestational period is about 7.5 months, after which a single young is typically born, although twins sometimes occur. The young are dark in color until they begin taking on the adult coloration at the age of five months. They are carried on their mothers' chests for the first month and a half to two months, at which point they can ride on their backs. They nurse until they are about one year old, but begin eating solid foods and moving independently at about three months. Even when they move independently, they cannot always cross gaps in the