The pine monkey is the second of the two monkeys that inhabits Scandera it is however the smaller one of the two. Just as it's cousin the ground monkey so is the pine monkey covered in a thick layer of fur that changes to a white colour in the winter while remains almost black for most of the year. Having adopted to the life in the tree tops of the thick pine forests of Scandera as well as the softer leaf forests so is it's hand very hard and covered in a thick protective layer of skin to help it climb amongst the tree tops.

Etymology

Pine monkey
	A monkey in the tree
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Family:	Cercopithecidae
Genus:	Saguinus
Species:	S.Traidiusapfius
Binomial name
	Saguinus Traidiusapfius; Hylfred Görenssen, 1785
	File:Habitat monkey2.png
	Habitat

The Imerian term Gran apfa comes from the urmål term "tré apfir" or tree monkey which later on got changed to "gran apfa" or "Pine monkey" despite the fact that the pine monkey lives often in the lush leaf forests of Scandera as well. The pine monkey is also known by it's second name "lur apfa" due to the distinct sound it makes.

History

Historically so have the pine monkey been important in federal culture and it has been seen as a trickster. This association mean that in the holy chronicles so have Arkar, the god of tricks and mischeif, been associated with these monkeys and according to legend were he the offspring of two pine monkeys.

Even in federal heraldry so have the monkey made it's way into the Imerian culture as a pine monkey is used in several houses and symbolises cleverness and the ability to think on ones feet.

Taxonomy

The latin name given to the pine monkey by Hylfred Görenssen have been criticised by a lot of modern scientists as well as those of his own time as the name is fake latin and he just added "ius" at the end of the Imerian word for tree and monkey to name it "Traidiusapfius" or "treeius monkeyius" in English. According to legend did he name the monkey that as part of a vaguer with his close friend and assistant Nils auf Bergennäfe to see if they could get away with it.

As the royal academy in Imerbürg seemed to just glanced over Hylfred's documentation before they accepted as they according to legend had started to trust him enough to agree to his documentations and save the reading until later. Once the mistake was found so were it a huge scandal and the academy demanded that Hylfred were going to change it or lose his funding. Luckily however so did the high king at the time, Gustav rex Stjärnkhrone IV, find out about the scandal and found the thing hilarious enough to demand that the academy would back down and let the monkey keep it's name.

A second legend however say that instead of finding the name funny so did Gustav rex Stjärnkhrone IV just not like the current head of the Academy, Göran auf Borgnafe, due to a personal rivalry in the horse racing competitions held in Imerbürg and the king just overruled the head of the academy to spite him.

Anatomy and health

File:Monkeysize2.png

Size compared to a human

The pine monkey is a tiny creature and is only about 20 centimeters long, or about 60 centimetres if you include the tail. Being a very light creature adapted for life in the trees means that it only weighs around 590–640 grams. It uses it's long tail to help the monkey balance as it dashes through the Scanderan tree tops to keep away from predators.

While the fur of this monkey is black and grey in the summer so does it turn white and light grey in the winter to help it to camouflage itself. The pine monkey is also known for it's very dark and low pitched scream that it uses to keep in contact with the group, to warn for predators and to attract mates. The scream have historically been said to sound almost like a horn blow which gave rise to the monkey's second name "Lur apfa" after the bronze lur.

Reproduction

Pine monkeys mate and have offspring during the spring, summer, and fall months. Females usually have one litter per year, though 20% females produce two litters per year. The mean litter size is two infants. Most mammals produce a 50:50 ratio of males to females. The pine monkey population almost always produce a 60:40 male to female ratio. Most infants deaths occur within the first two weeks of birth, with newborns of first-time mothers having the lowest survival rates. The number of pine monkeys that survive to adulthood in the wild is 10% higher than those in captivity.

Diet

The diet varies between region and region for a pine monkey as a monkey living in the lush leaf forests are known to live on berries, fruits and nuts that it can collect. However in the dark pine forests so is it known to venture down on the ground to live on mushrooms like chanterelles and white mushrooms while it also have been known to gnaw on the trees and eat the tree sap.

However despite this so does the pine monkey also eat insects and it spends most of it's time searching it's forests looking for insects to eat and it has been known to loot bird nests for egg as well.

Behaviour

The pine monkey is highly territorial and lives of groups of around 10 individuals in an area of around 106 hectares. It then spends most of it's life in the tree tops, moving from one tree to the next and only goes down to the ground when it has to or when it has spotted mushrooms and berries. However it is also a very shy creature that prefers to run from danger and hide.