PLANET EARTH Jungles

Squirrel monkeys are also small but they have strength in numbers. Their timeshare on the tree may be short, so their tactics（策略） are more smash and grab. Capuchin monkeys（卷尾猴） are the bully boys in these forests and they want the ripe figs for themselves. Figs are one of the few trees that fruit the year round so when other food is scarce, these fruits are always available somewhere or other.



Even for leaf eaters, like howler monkeys the ripe figs are just too good to miss. And howlers are too big for the capuchins to chase off（赶走）. Figs are so popular, that as many as 44 different kinds of bird and monkey have been seen working a shift system on a single tree. Because fruiting trees are so valuable, many monkeys are territorial and if you live in the treetops（树梢） there's perhaps no better way of staking your claim to a territory, than this.



The calls of the siamang gibbons（合趾长臂猿） begin as a duet（二重奏） between the dominant male and female. The rest of their families soon join in, and it results in a frenzy of activity. The calls can carry over a mile, and their message is clear. They tell any neighboring siamangs this is our territory. Keep out. Up here the calls of siamang gibbons seem to dominate the airwaves but with the jungle's incredible diversity there are countless others trying to be heard too.