Howler Monkey Color Vision

Unlike other New World monkeys, both male and female howler monkeys have trichromatic color vision. [3] This has evolved independently from other New World monkeys due to gene duplication. [4] They have lifespans of 15 to 20 years.

Howler species are dimorphic and can also be dichromatic (i.e. Alouatta caraya). But New World monkeys have a broad range of vision types.

Every howler monkey, for example, is trichromatic. The owl monkey is monochromatic, seeing only in black and white. Black howler monkeys are unique among all studied platyrrhines in that both males and females have trichromatic color vision.

Like humans, they can detect red, green, and blue light wavelengths, covering the entire color spectrum visible to their species. Electrophysiological and molecular genetic studies have shown that howler monkeys (Alouatta) are unique among all studied platyrrhines in. Abstract The howler monkeys (Alouatta sp.) are the only New World primates to exhibit routine trichromacy.

Both males and females have three cone photopigments. However, in contrast to Old World monkeys, Alouatta has a locus control region upstream of each opsin gene on the X. Howler monkeys (platyrrhini) have evolved routine trichromatic color vision independently from catarrhines, which presents an opportunity to test hypotheses concerning the adaptive value of distinguishing reddish from greenish hues.

This is similar to red-green color blindness in humans, where they can distinguish blue from yellow and green, but struggle with differentiating red from green. An exception is the howler monkey, which has routine trichromatic vision, similar to Old World monkeys and humans. This study examined the color discrimination abilities of four howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) through a series of tasks involving a behavioral paradigm of discrimination learning.

In summary, we show that red-green colour vision is found in all howler monkeys, and it likely helps howlers to find preferred young, reddish leaves, which are an important part of their diet. Natural selection for trichromatic colour vision may be stronger for howler monkeys than it is for other primate species living in the same areas. Discussion In this study, we sequenced and analyzed the TRP2 gene from three species of howler monkeys in an attempt to examine the relationship between the evolution of full trichromatic vision and the deterioration of pheromone communication.