High Living in the Himalayas
The highest land-dwelling animals on earth are small, black attid spiders. They live in islands of broken rock on Mount Everest at an altitude of 22,000 feet. This is far above the line of perpetual snow and nearly a mile above the last vegetation. Since there is no other living thing near them, they have to eat one another for sustenance. Presumably their ranks always are being repleted by new arrivals from below.
Highest of all living things are red-legged, black-feathered choughs, birds of the crow family. A lone chough has been seen in the Himalayas at 27,000 feet. There is an intimate association between these birds and mountain sheep. The chough sits on the sheep’s back and searches its hair for insects. The sheep seems to like this attention and stands still while the exploration is in progress.
Another bird-animal association at high mountain altitudes is that between mouse hares, rabbit-like animals about the size of large rats, and finches. The hares live in burrows and usually are seen feeding at the entrances or running from hole to hole. Both hares and birds are seed eaters.
Wild sheep and mountain goats in the Himalayas struggle up to about 17,000 feet. There are small, wingless grasshoppers at 18,000 feet. A few bees, moths and butterflies are found at 21,000 feet.
Barking Spider Monkeys
Barking spider monkeys that fight off unwelcome human invaders are dominant animals in the “green mansions” of Panama jungles. They live in semi-nomadic troops, each of which occupies a fairly restricted area of the forest, sometimes overlapping slightly with areas of other groups. Within their territory members of a troop wander freely, but their activities tend to center around food and lodge trees.
In reporting on his observations of their activities Dr. C. R. Carpenter of Columbia stated: “Almost every night the group slept within earshot of camp. For eight successive nights they returned to the same group of trees. Throughout the day the troop travelled, in general, over the same routes from one food tree to another and from favorite places in the deep forest where the midday siesta occurred. Several other groups were regularly located in their own particular home areas.”
The monkeys resent intrusion of their territories by anything that looks like another monkey, such as a man. When approached they start barking. The usual terrier-like bark of great excitement may change to a metallic chatter repeated with great frequency. When males, and sometimes adult females are approached closely they growl in a strikingly vicious manner. Typically they come to the terminal ends of branches, often within 40 to 50 feet of the observer, and vigorously shake these branches. Both hands and feet may be used while the animal hangs by its tail.
Throwing of branches is a conspicuous part of the reactions to men. Quite frequently they break off and drop limbs close to the intruder. Green branches sometimes, but most often large dead limbs weighing up to ten pounds may be dropped. “This behavior,” according to Dr. Carpenter, “cannot be described as throwing although the animal may cause the object to fall away from the perpendicular by a sharp twist of its body or a swinging circular movement of its powerful tail. This dropping of objects from trees may be considered as a defensive adaptation arising from the more generalized habit of shaking branches. A significant variation occurs when the animal breaks off a limb and holds it for a time—from a second to half a minute—before letting it fall.”