# What Do Howler Monkeys Eat?

> What howler monkeys eat: Folivore — leaves, fruit, flowers, and buds, foraging style, and seasonal shifts in Tropical forests of Central and South America.

- **Species:** Howler Monkey (*Alouatta spp.*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Folivore — leaves, fruit, flowers, and buds
- **Habitat:** Tropical forests of Central and South America
- **Lifespan:** 15–20 years in the wild
- **Top speed:** Up to 16 km/h (10 mph); mostly slow arboreal movement
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/howler-monkey/what-do-howler-monkey-eat/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/howler-monkey/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The howler monkey is a large, leaf-eating New World primate famous for having one of the loudest calls of any land animal in the Americas. Living in the tropical forests of Central and South America, it weighs around 5 to 10 kg and spends almost its whole life high in the canopy. Its booming dawn chorus, produced with the help of a specialised throat bone, can carry for several kilometres. Howlers live 15 to 20 years in the wild and are listed as Least Concern.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a captive feeding plan from a veterinarian. This page is wild diet, not a pet-care sheet.

## The famous howl

Howler monkeys are named for the deep, roaring calls that make them one of the loudest land animals in the Americas. Males produce these booming howls using an enlarged hyoid bone in the throat that acts as a resonating chamber. The calls carry for several kilometres through dense forest and are used to space out rival troops without the need to fight. Choruses are most striking at dawn and dusk, when neighbouring groups answer one another across the canopy.

## Help protect the Howler Monkey

Even familiar animals lose ground as wild habitat keeps shrinking worldwide.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/howler-monkey/what-do-howler-monkey-eat/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.