Salisbury Zoo announces passing of Spider Monkey “Amy”

The Salisbury Zoo regretfully announces the passing of their female black-handed spider monkey, “Amy”.

The 25-year-old monkey had been under medical care for advanced stages of cancer and passed away during surgery.

The average life span of spider monkeys in captivity is 33 years. Amy was born on April 17, 1994 at the Salisbury Zoo. She was the daughter to Benny and Granny.

The Salisbury Zoo has been exhibiting black-handed spider monkeys since the early 1970s and has a long history with spider monkey conservation. Black-handed spider monkeys are threatened in the wild.

Black-handed spider monkeys are found in the tropical lowland rainforests from Mexico to South America. Spider monkeys live mostly in the upper to middle canopy of the forest. Using their prehensile tails they can travel through trees as fast as humans can run on ground.

A post mortem exam is being conducted at John’s Hopkins University.