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What is the name of a type of monkey. The most unusual monkeys. Tiny monkey species

Zoologists divide monkeys into two main groups. The first includes primates inhabiting South and Central America, the second - living in Africa and Asia. Each species has features that make it possible to distinguish them. Tails, with which the monkeys grab onto the branches of trees, wide noses are the main features. Asian and African primates often do not have a tail, and if it does, it acts as a fifth limb. In two groups, there are 160 populations of various monkeys.

The group is large and varied. Represented by capuchins, monkeys, tamarins, nocturnal, owl monkeys, howler monkeys, woolly, spider monkeys.

Monkeys

Funny monkeys. These primates are part of the Monkey-like family. They differ in small body size, thick, soft coat, funny character. They have different shades colors: from olive to blue and black. A painted monkey appears as such because of the muzzle with a mustache over the upper lip, beard and sideburns. The tails are twice the size of the body. Small calluses are located on the buttocks.

The habitat of these primates is the jungle and tropical forests. Plant and animal foods are included in the daily diet. They feed on juicy grass, fresh fruits, trees, insects, small vertebrates. They are accustomed to fleeing from ill-wishers. The biggest danger is people catching monkeys for zoos and for sale. To tame animals, you need to take only babies, not adults: they are better trained.

Asian and African primates

Asia and Africa are inhabited by about 135 species of various monkeys. Listing will take a lot of time and effort. Scientists decided to combine them into groups:

  • baboons,
  • colobus,
  • macaques,
  • mandrills.

Gorillas

These are the largest representatives of great apes. They live in the African equatorial forests. Scientists managed to study and describe the territory of their habitat. Only the natives knew that primates were their neighbors. But they avoided meeting them. There were legends about the formidable and unfriendly nature of gorillas.

The weight of a male is up to 200 kg, females - up to 140 kg. The body resembles a square, growth sometimes exceeds 2 m. The skin and coat are colored black, but older males have gray hairs. They lead a daily lifestyle, the diet includes plant foods. They feed on stems and leaves, rarely fruits of bananas.

Gorillas are endowed with a phlegmatic and calm character. No need to attach special importance to their frightening grimaces. Mating females occurs exclusively with pack leaders. The gestation period is extended by 8.5 months. After the birth of the cubs long time they move by riding on the backs of their mothers, holding on to the woolen cover. Life expectancy is 30 to 35 years. In rare cases, primates live up to 50 years.

Baboons

These monkeys are often referred to as yellow baboons. Body length (including tail) can reach 112 cm. Wool yellow color. They feed on bird eggs, fruits, lizards, succulent grass, and insects. Primates have a herd lifestyle, so they are rarely found alone.

The herd obeys adult males. There is a clearly defined hierarchy. If danger is nearby, individuals always come to the aid of each other. The males are friendly with each other. Adult female cubs are forced to remain in the herd, males leave it. There are times when ungulates adjoin flocks of yellow baboons. They are endowed with a keen eye and good eyesight, due to which they warn of an impending threat.

Content at home

Only gibbons, marmosets, capuchins and tamarins are suitable for keeping at home. A spacious cage is provided for them and a system is built proper nutrition. Beating an animal, yelling at it is strictly prohibited, as it will become closed. If there is a child in the family who asks for a monkey as a pet, you can give him an interactive Fingerlings monkey.

Irresponsible attitude towards environment will lead to the fact that funny monkeys will be at the stage of extinction. Scientists are concerned about the fact that some species of primates (such as macaques) are small in number. The extermination of red-bottomed drills, which have already been listed in the Red Book, is catastrophically fast. Over time, this will lead to the fact that these animals will forever disappear from our planet.

Monkey (anthropoid, the highest primate) is a mammal that is closest in structure to humans, belongs to the order of primates, the suborder of dry-nosed primates, the infraorder monkey-like (Simiiformes).

The origin of the Russian word “monkey” is quite interesting. Until the 16th century, the monkey in Russia was called “opitsa” - just as the Czechs call it now. At the same time, the Persians called the monkey "busine". According to one version, Afanasy Nikitin brought this name with him from his travels and used it in his work “Journey Beyond the Three Seas”. According to another version, the monkey got its name from the word "abuzina". At the same time, Ushakov's dictionary specifies that "abuzina" is translated from Arabic as "father of fornication".

Monkey - description, characteristics, structure, photo. What does a monkey look like?

The body length of an adult monkey can vary from 15 cm (for a pygmy marmoset) to 2 meters (for a male gorilla). The weight of the monkey also depends on the species. If the body weight of a small monkey barely reaches 150 grams, then individual gorillas weigh up to 275 kg.

Most arboreal monkey species have long backs, short and narrow chests, and thin hips.

Gibbons and orangutans have a wide chest, as well as massive pelvic bones.

Some monkeys have a long tail that exceeds the length of the body and acts as a balancer when moving through the trees.

Apes living on the ground are distinguished by a short tail, while the great apes do not have a tail at all.

The body of the monkeys is more or less covered with hair of various colors from light brown and red to black and white and gray-olive.

Adults sometimes turn gray over the years, and male monkeys even go bald in the same way as people.

Monkeys are characterized by mobile, well-developed upper limbs, endowed with 5 fingers, the phalanges of which end in nails, as well as opposition thumb.

The extent to which the monkey's arms and legs are developed depends directly on the lifestyle.

Monkeys, who spend most of their lives in trees, have short thumbs, which makes it easy to fly from branch to branch with the help of limb swings.

But, for example, the feet of baboons are long and graceful, convenient for walking on the ground.

The vision of most monkeys is binocular, and the whites of the eyes are as black as the pupils.

The dentition is similar to that of humans, but differs between narrow-nosed and broad-nosed monkeys. Narrow-nosed monkeys have 32 teeth, broad-nosed monkeys have 36.

The teeth of great apes are massive and have a complex root structure.

The brain of the monkey is well developed and has a complex structure.

Great apes have highly developed parts of the brain responsible for meaningful movements.

Monkeys communicate using a special signal system, consisting of facial expressions and sounds. Monkeys and capuchins are considered especially noisy and talkative.

Both ways of transmitting information in monkeys are well developed and can demonstrate the widest range of feelings, which is expressed, first of all, by rich facial expressions.

Monkeys live on almost all continents: in Europe (namely, in Gibraltar), in the south and southeast of Asia (in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, in China, Japan), in Africa (except Madagascar), in the tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, in Australia. Monkeys do not inhabit Antarctica.

Chimpanzee live in the countries of West and Central Africa: Senegal, Guinea, Angola, Congo, Chad, Cameroon and others.

Habitat macaques extends from hot Afghanistan to the countries of Southeast Asia, including Japan. On the territory of North Africa and Gibraltar, the Magot macaque lives, representing the family as the only species. Macaques live in Cambodia and Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, not too large populations are found in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

Gorillas live in the equatorial forests of western and central Africa. Populations are found in the Gambia and Cameroon, in Mauritania and Chad, inhabit Guinea and Benin.

orangutans live only in the humid forests of the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Monkeys howler monkeys live mainly in the countries of southern Mexico and Brazil, in Bolivia and Argentina.

Monkeys live in Southeast Asia, throughout the Arabian Peninsula and the African continent. In Europe, monkeys live only on Gibraltar.

Almost all varieties gibbons live only in the Asian region. Their natural range is the forest areas of India and Malaysia, the humid tropical thickets of Burma, Cambodia and Thailand, Vietnam and China.

Hamadryas (baboons) distributed almost throughout Africa, being the only primate living in the northeastern part of the continent (Egypt and Sudan). Baboons are also found on the territory of the Arabian Peninsula.

Habitat capuchins includes vast expanses of tropical rainforest from Honduras in the north of the range to southern Brazil and Venezuela in the south.

tamarins prefer to settle in the warmest regions of Central America, in climate-friendly Costa Rica and in favorable South America - that is, almost throughout the entire area of ​​​​the fertile Amazonian lowland. Certain types of tamarins feel great in Bolivia and in Brazil.

Monkeys baboons very widespread in Central and East Africa: they live in Kenya and Uganda, in Ethiopia and Sudan, in the Congo and Angola.

Monkeys saki- Inhabitants of South America. Found in Venezuela, Colombia, Chile.

How do monkeys live?

Some monkeys live in trees: some prefer to live in the very crowns, others live in the lower tiers, but leave their homes in case of emergency.

Terrestrial monkeys live in a certain individual area, but the borders are rarely guarded. Random confrontations between a dominant male and a lone male usually end in a visual display of superiority, and it rarely comes to a fight.

The average life expectancy of monkeys is 30-40 years, some monkeys live up to 50 years.

Monkeys are omnivorous animals, and the diet of each species depends on the habitat. Tree monkeys eat what can be obtained from trees: leaves, buds, young shoots, nuts, fruits. Sometimes insects are added to food.

Terrestrial monkeys have a much greater choice of food: they eat the rhizomes and shoots of plants, including ferns - a favorite delicacy of the gorilla.

All monkeys have a varied diet and, in addition to various sugary fruits (figs, mangoes,), they are happy to eat fish, shellfish, rodents, and everything else edible that they can find or catch.

Some types of monkeys eat certain type food: for example, Japanese short-tailed macaques eat only the bark of trees, the crab-eating macaque feeds exclusively on crabs, and marmosets extract and eat gum with their long incisors.

Chimpanzees, in addition to being the only monkey species capable of creating hunting equipment to facilitate the process of obtaining food, attack birds, small animals and medium-sized monkeys, including other chimpanzees.

But baboons always hunt in large groups, therefore they are one of the most dangerous predators of the jungle.

Types of monkeys, names and photos

The infraorder Apes is subdivided into 2 parvoorders:

  • broad-nosed monkeys(Platyrrhini), which includes species of monkeys that live in Central and South America.
  • narrow-nosed monkeys(Catarrhini) - species of monkeys living in Africa, Asia, 1 species lives in Europe (Gibraltar).

The modern classification identifies more than 400 species of monkeys or higher primates. Each type of monkey is individual in its own way, but they all have common features. Among the diversity of representatives of the order of primates, the following varieties of monkeys are of greatest interest:

  • (Alouatta caraya)

member of the spider monkey family. The howler monkey makes characteristic roaring sounds that can be heard for 5 km. The males are covered with black wool, the female monkey is distinguished by a yellow-brown or olive color, the cubs are colored golden yellow. The length of the male monkey is 52-67 cm with a weight of 6.7 kg, the females are much smaller and grow up to 49 cm in size with a weight of 4.4 kg. The basis of the diet is fruits and foliage. The howler monkey lives in Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina.

  • Mourning capuchin(Cebus olivaceus)

species of monkeys from the chain-tailed family. The weight of the male monkey reaches 3 kg, the female is a third smaller. The color of the monkey is brown or light brown, with a grayish tinge, on the head there is a characteristic triangle of black hair. Inside the pack, infanticide is practiced - the deliberate killing of cubs, as well as grooming - the mutual sorting of wool. To protect themselves from blood-sucking insects, monkeys rub themselves with poisonous centipedes. Black capuchins are omnivorous and eat a variety of insects, small vertebrates, fruits, and young shoots of trees. They live in the crowns of the virgin forests of Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname.

  • Crowned monkey (blue monkey)(Cercopithecus mitis)

got its name due to the gray color with a blue tint and a white stripe of wool passing over the eyebrows like a crown. Body length adult is from 50 to 65 cm, body weight -4-6 kg. The male monkey is distinguished by well-developed sideburns. white color and long, in comparison with females, fangs. This species of animal is widespread in the forests and bamboo groves of the African continent, from the Congo Basin to Ethiopia, Zambia and Angola.

  • White-handed gibbon (lar) (Hylobates lar)

species of great apes of the gibbon family. Adult monkeys of both sexes grow up to 55-63 cm in length and have a body weight of 4-5.5 kg. The color of the monkey's fur can be black, brown or sand, and the arms and legs are always white. The basis of the monkey's diet is fruits, leaves and insects. White-handed gibbons are monogamous and lead a predominantly arboreal lifestyle in the rainforests of China and the Malay Archipelago.

  • eastern gorilla(Gorilla beringei)

the biggest monkey in the world. According to famous zoologists, a giant male gorilla was killed by hunters at the beginning of the last century: his height was 2 m 32 cm. Usually, the size of a male monkey reaches 185 cm with a body weight of 160 kg (sometimes 220 kg). Gorilla females are much smaller, the body length of an adult is 150 cm and weighs 70-114 kg. Massive animals, characterized by a large head, broad shoulders, developed chest and long legs. The color of the coat is mostly black, in the subspecies of mountain gorillas it casts blue. A strip of silvery fur runs along the back of seasoned males. Monkeys feed on all parts of plants, less often on invertebrates and fungi.

  • Pale saki (white-headed saki)(Pithecia pithecia)

a species of broad-nosed monkeys with long and shaggy hair, rarely leaving the trees. The size of adult animals reaches from 30 to 48 cm in length, the male monkey weighs about 2 kg, the female monkey is slightly lighter. The black color of the coat of males contrasts markedly with the white or pink complexion. The females are black-gray or gray-brown and similarly pale. The monkeys' food consists of seeds and fruits from various trees native to Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil.

  • Hamadryl (frilled baboon)(Papio hamadryas)

a species of narrow-nosed monkeys of the genus baboons, spending their entire lives on earth. The body length of adult males is 70-100 cm with a weight of about 30 kg. The female monkey is 2 times smaller than the male. The male monkey is distinguished by the original location of the hairline: long hair on the shoulders and chest forms a kind of fur cape. The color of the fur resembles the color of dry grass, and the female monkey is colored darker. The diet of hamadryas is dominated by plant rhizomes, insects, worms and snails, as well as crops from nearby plantations. Hamadryla monkeys live in the open spaces of African and Asian countries: Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Nubia, Yemen.

  • nosach, or kahau (Nasalis larvatus)

an animal from the subfamily of thin-bodied monkeys of the monkey family. The monkey lives exclusively on the island of Borneo, forming populations in the tropical forests of its coastal regions. The color of the nosed monkey is yellowish-brown, with a whitish undercoat. The coat on the limbs and tail of the monkey has a gray tint, the muzzle is hairless, often bright red. The size of the mammal varies from 66 to 77 cm, with the monkey's tail being about the same length. The weight of a male is 15-22 kg, female monkeys are usually twice as light. A special difference between the proboscis is an unusual hanging nose. In males, with age, it grows to a huge size, so the monkey has to hold his nose to eat leaves, fruits or flowers of plants.

  • Japanese macaque ( Macaca fuscata)

a species of monkey, mainly living in the northern part of the island of Honshu. At the end of the last century, a small population of Japanese macaques was artificially settled in Texas, where today these animals feel great. The population living on Yakushima Island is usually classified as a separate subspecies - Macaca fuscata yakui, which is associated with some differences in behavior and appearance macaques. The height of the male Japanese macaque varies between 80-95 cm, weight - from 12 to 14 kg, the female monkey is slightly lower, and almost 1.5 times less in weight. The macaque monkey is the owner of bright red skin, which is especially noticeable on the muzzle and buttocks, which are completely devoid of wool. Thick wool has a dark gray color with a slight brown tint. The tail of the monkey is quite short, rarely exceeding a length of 10 cm. Japanese macaques usually choose forests, both tropical and located in mountainous areas, as their habitat. They are kept in groups, often reaching 100 individuals, where a strict hierarchy reigns. In the northern regions of Japan, where the snow cover lasts for 3-4 months and the average winter air temperature is -4-5 ° C, macaques survive frosty days in natural hot springs, basking in their thermal waters. Surprisingly, in order not to freeze wet on a hike for food, these resourceful monkeys make a duty schedule: while some individuals are sitting in warm water, others, with dry hair, bring food to them. Monkeys feed on leaves and roots of plants, sweet fruits of tropical trees, bird eggs, insects, mollusks and crustaceans, and fish.

  • Sumatran orangutan ( Pongo abelii)

a species of monkey that lives exclusively on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Sumatran orangutan is a fairly large animal. The growth of an adult male can reach one and a half meters or more with a weight of 150-165 kg. Females have somewhat smaller dimensions - their height does not exceed 1 meter, and their weight is 50-55 kg. Monkeys have well-developed muscles, a massive body covered with hard, reddish-brown hair, which is quite long in the shoulder area. The forelimbs of an orangutan in a span often reach 3 meters, the hind limbs are short, with wide, stable feet. The males of the Sumatran orangutan are distinguished by an unusual muzzle: clearly defined fatty rollers are located on the cheeks, and the beard and mustache give the animal a slightly funny look. The diet of the Sumatran orangutan is dominated mainly by plant foods - leaves, bark, nuts, sweet fruits, however, the monkey will not refuse to eat bird eggs and chicks, grasshoppers, spiders

  • common chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes)

a species of monkey whose habitat covers the forested areas of the tropics and humid savannahs of the African continent, especially its western and central parts. Sexually mature male chimpanzees reach a height of 140-160 cm, and monkeys weigh in the range of 65-80 kg. Females weigh 40-50 kg with a height of 120-130 cm. The body of animals is covered with very coarse, hard wool of a dark brown hue. Near the mouth and on the coccyx, the coat is partially white, but the feet, palms and muzzle of the monkey are completely devoid of it. Common chimpanzees are practically omnivorous, although the bulk of the diet is still plant foods. These monkeys are happy to eat nuts and fruits, sweet potato leaves and tubers, feed on mushrooms and termites, feast on sweet honey, bird eggs and small vertebrates. It is not uncommon for a flock of chimpanzees to successfully hunt red colobuses (primates from the marmoset family) and even young ungulates, making up for the lack of nutrients with meat. Chimpanzee monkeys are the only primates that can create a semblance of tools that facilitate the process of obtaining food: they skillfully sharpen the ends of sticks and twigs, turning them into an imitation of a spear, use palm leaves as traps for insects, use stones as projectiles.

  • pygmy marmoset ( Cebuella pygmaea)

it is the smallest monkey in the world. Adults grow up to 10-15 cm in length and weigh from 100 to 150 g. They inhabit the forests of South America and feed mainly on tree sap.

Monkeys are fairly well-studied four-armed mammals that are closest in origin and body structure to humans. In a broader sense, all monkeys are representatives of the order of primates (Rrimates). According to the new taxonomy, real monkeys are allocated to the infraorder Monkey-like, and unite with tarsiers, belonging to the suborder Dry-nosed primates (Harlorhini). All semi-monkeys (with the exception of tarsiers) are assigned to the suborder Wet-nosed primates (Strepsirrhini).

Description of monkeys

The brain of monkeys is quite well developed, therefore it is distinguished by the so-called complex structure.. Great apes are characterized by the presence of highly developed parts of the brain, which are responsible for the meaningfulness of movements. Vision in most monkeys is of the binocular type, and the whites of the eyes, along with the pupils, are black in color. The dentition of monkeys is similar to human teeth, but narrow-nosed and broad-nosed monkeys have some noticeable differences - there are 32 and 36 teeth. Great apes have massive teeth with a complex root structure.

Appearance

The body length of adult monkeys can vary markedly - from fifteen centimeters in the species of pygmy marmoset to a couple of meters in male gorillas. The weight of the animal also directly depends on the species characteristics. The body weight of the smallest representatives can be no more than 120-150 grams, and individual, largest gorillas often weigh 250-275 kg.

A significant part of the species of monkeys that lead an exclusively arboreal lifestyle have a long back, a shortened and narrow chest, and rather thin hip bones.

Gibbons and orangutans are characterized by the presence of a wide and massive chest, as well as well-developed, large pelvic bones. Some species of monkeys are distinguished by a very long tail, exceeding the length of the body, and also performing a balancing function in the process of active movement of the animal through the trees.

Apes living on the ground are characterized by a short tail, but the anthropoid species do not have it at all. The body of monkeys in varying degrees of length and density is covered with hair, the color of which can vary from light brown and red to black and white and grayish-olive tones. Some older individuals turn noticeably gray over the years, and for many male monkeys even the appearance of bald heads is characteristic.

Four-armed mammals are distinguished by mobile and very well developed upper limbs, endowed with five fingers. The phalanx ends with a nail. Also to distinctive features monkeys include the presence of opposition of the thumb. The way of life directly depends on the general development of the legs and arms of the animal. Species that spend most of their time only on trees have short thumbs, which helps them to easily move from one branch to another. And, for example, the feet of a baboon are characterized by a pronounced length and even some grace, which makes it convenient to move on the ground.

Character and lifestyle

The social behavior of monkeys is still not well understood, however, the main general information about the nature and way of life of such primates. For example, marmosets also lead an arboreal lifestyle, and the nail plates, which have turned into strongly curved claws, allow such monkeys to easily climb trees. All chain-tailed monkeys, when collecting fruits from trees, are securely held by the branches with their long and very tenacious tail.

It is interesting! Representatives of very many species of monkeys leading an arboreal lifestyle do not descend to the surface of the earth, since such animals are able to find everything they need for life in the crowns of a tree.

Arboreal species are represented by monkeys small sizes, which are distinguished by simply amazing mobility, and macaques and baboons living in Asia and Africa seek and gather food on the ground, but spend the night only in tree crowns. Frilled baboons inhabit the most open spaces in the savannahs and plateaus. Such animals are not very mobile and belong to the category of typical land monkeys.

monkey intelligence

Great apes are highly intelligent animals, as evidenced by a number of different scientific research and experiments. The intelligence of chimpanzees, whose genetic base is approximately ninety percent identical to human indicators, has been studied to date the most studied intelligence. This species is so genetically close to humans that at one time scientists even proposed to attribute such an animal to the genus People.

Unable to speak due to the peculiarities of the vocal apparatus, chimpanzees may well communicate in sign language, symbols and lexigram language. AT natural conditions anthropoid species often and actively use tools to collect water and honey, catch termites and ants, hunt animals and break nuts. Regardless of the relationship within the herd or flock, the communication of monkeys is characterized by complex forms of behavior. Such animals are not at all alien to many feelings, including friendship and love, envy and resentment, rancor and cunning, strong anger, as well as empathy and grief.

It is interesting! Japanese macaques are incredibly resourceful monkeys who, thanks to their extraordinary ingenuity, have found a way to protect themselves from frost in their habitats and dive up to their necks in the waters of hot springs for warmth.

Monkeys try to unite in herds or flocks, so they are forced to maintain constant communication with each other. Thanks to secret marks from the odorous glands, animals receive information about the sex and age, as well as the social status of a particular individual. However, more important to communication are optical cues, including head nodding, mouth opening wide, teeth baring, and slapping the ground with hands. For example, mutual cleaning of wool is not only a matter of hygiene, but also serves as a kind of unifying factor that strengthens the relationship of individuals within the group.

How long do monkeys live

Monkeys typically live for about half a century under conditions wildlife, and slightly longer in captivity. The exact average lifespan of monkeys varies by species and habitat. Along with other members of the primate order, all monkeys go through developmental stages similar to those of humans.

It is interesting! A significant proportion of monkeys die before the age of fifty, becoming a victim of accidents, attacks by predators or people.

Newborn monkeys are completely dependent on their mothers until the age of five, before they enter the juvenile stage of their development. The juvenile stage in monkeys usually begins at the age of eight, and primates reach sexual maturity at sixteen years of age, when the animal becomes independent and fully grown.

types of monkeys

The infraorder of apes is represented by two parvoorders:

  • Broad-nosed monkeys (Platyrrhini);
  • Narrow-nosed monkeys (Catarrhini).

In the modern classification, more than four hundred species of monkeys are distinguished, and the most unusual and interesting at the present time are deservedly:

  • black howler (Alouatta saraya) from the family that lives in Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. Representatives of the species make peculiar, very loud roaring sounds. Males have a black coat, and females are distinguished by yellow-brown or olive coat. The length of an adult male black howler is about 52-67 cm with a body weight of 6.7 kg, and females are much smaller. The basis of the diet is represented by fruits and foliage;
  • Mourning capuchin (Cebus olivaceus) from the Chain-tailed family, living in the virgin forests of Venezuela, Brazil and Suriname. The maximum weight of the male is 3.0 kg, and the females are about a third less. The color of the coat is brown or light brown, with a grayish tinge. In the head area there is a characteristic black-haired triangle. Flocks of this type practice infanticide in the form of deliberate killing of cubs, and protection from bloodsuckers is carried out by rubbing the wool with poisonous centipedes. The species is omnivorous;
  • Crowned, or blue monkey (Sercorytheus mitis) lives in forest areas and bamboo groves on the African continent. The animal has a gray color with a bluish tint and a white stripe on the coat, which runs above the eyebrows and resembles a crown. The average body length of adult monkeys varies between 50-65 cm, with a body weight of 4.0-6.0 kg. Males are distinguished by well-developed white whiskers and rather long fangs;
  • white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar) from the Gibbon family, living in the tropical forest zones of China and the Malay Archipelago. Adult individuals grow, as a rule, to a length of 55-63 cm with a body weight in the range of 4.0-5.5 kg. The body has black, brown or colored fur, but the area of ​​the arms and legs is always the characteristic white. The basis of nutrition is represented by fruits, leaves and insects;
  • eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) is the largest monkey in the world, with a height of about 185-190 cm with an average body weight of 150-160 kg. The massive animal has a large head and broad shoulders, expanded chest and long legs. The coat color is predominantly black, but the subspecies of mountain gorillas is characterized by a bluish tint. On the back of a seasoned male there is a strip of silvery fur. The diet is represented by plants and fungi, less often by invertebrates;
  • Pale, or white-headed saki (Pithecia pithecia) is a broad-nosed monkey with a long and shaggy coat. The size of an adult animal varies between 30-48 cm, with a weight of no more than 1.9-2.0 kg. The black color of the coat of the male contrasts markedly with the pink or white color of his face. An adult female is distinguished by a black-gray or gray-brown coat color and the same pale face. The diet is represented by seeds and fruits that grow in Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil;
  • Hamadryad, or frilled baboon (Rario hamadryas) from the species Narrow-nosed monkeys and the genus Baboons, inhabits the open spaces of Africa and Asia, including Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, as well as Nubia and Yemen. The body length of an adult male varies between 70-100 cm and weighs about 28-30 kg. The difference between the male is the original location of the hairline with a long coat on the shoulders and in the chest area. Females have a darker coat color;
  • Japanese macaque (Masasa fuscata) - a species that lives mainly in the northern part of Honshu, but a small population was artificially settled in Texas. The height of an adult male varies between 75-95 cm, with a weight of 12-14 kg. A characteristic species feature is bright red skin, especially noticeable in the area of ​​​​the muzzle of the animal and on the buttocks, which are completely devoid of wool. The coat of the Japanese macaque is thick, dark gray in color with a slight brown tint;
  • Ordinary (Pan troglodytes) is a species that lives in the wooded areas of the tropics and in the humid savannahs of the African continent. The body of the animal is covered with a very coarse and hard coat of dark brown color. Around the mouth and in the area of ​​the coccyx, the hair is partially white, and the feet, muzzle and palms are completely devoid of fur. The common chimpanzee is an omnivore, but most of its diet consists of plants.

Of particular interest are the pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea), which are the smallest monkeys in the world and inhabit forests in South America.

Range, habitats

Monkeys live on the territories of almost all continents, including Europe, south and southeast Asia, Africa, tropical and subtropical regions of South and Central America, as well as Australia. There are no monkeys in Antarctica.

  • chimpanzees inhabit the countries of Central and West Africa: Senegal and Guinea, Angola and Congo, Chad and Cameroon, as well as some others;
  • The distribution range of macaques is very wide and extends from Afghanistan to Southeast Asia and Japan. Magot macaques live in the territories of North Africa and in Gibraltar;
  • gorilla habitats are represented by equatorial forests in Central and West Africa, and part of the population is found in Cameroon and the Gambia, Chad and Mauritania, Guinea and Benin;
  • orangutans live exclusively in humid forest areas on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan;
  • the habitat of howler monkeys is represented mainly by the countries of southern Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina;
  • the places of distribution of the monkey are Southeast Asia, the territory of the entire Arabian Peninsula and the African continent, as well as Gibraltar;
  • almost all varieties of gibbon live only in the Asian region, and their natural habitat is represented by the forest areas of Malaysia and India, tropical rainforests in Burma, Cambodia and Thailand, Vietnam and China;
  • hamadryas (baboons) have become widespread throughout almost the entire territory of African countries, are the only primates that inhabit the northeastern part of the continent, including Sudan and Egypt, and are also found on the Arabian Peninsula;
  • the distribution range of capuchins is represented by vast expanses of tropical humid forest zones, ranging from Honduras, up to the territories of Venezuela and southern Brazil;
  • baboons are very widespread in the territories of East and Central Africa, including Kenya and Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan, Congo and Angola;
  • Saki monkeys are typical inhabitants of the territory of South America, and are also often found in Colombia, Venezuela and Chile.

Tamarins prefer the warmest regions of Central America, Costa Rica and South America, occurring in almost all areas of the Amazonian lowland, and some species inhabit Bolivia and Brazil.

Monkey Diet

Monkeys are predominantly herbivorous four-armed mammals that prefer to eat fruits, leaves and flowers, as well as the roots of various plants. Many well-known monkey species are quite capable of supplementing their plant-based diet with small vertebrates and insects for a change. Some monkeys in the process of evolution have adapted to the consumption of special foods.

Marmosets very willingly eat gum, which flows from damaged tree trunks. Such monkeys easily gnaw out holes in the tree bark with the help of incisors, after which the sweet plant juice is licked off with their tongue. The red-backed saki loves hard fruit pits, and to eat them, the interdental gap is used, which functions like ordinary nutcrackers.

Howler monkeys and Gverets willingly feed on very hard and low-nutrient tree foliage. In such monkeys, the stomach is divided into several parts by special partitions, which is a bit like the digestive system of ruminants.

It is interesting! A significant part of the species of the Old World has the so-called cheek pouches, inside which it is easy to fit a large number of stern.

Due to this feature of the structure, the path of passage of the feed increases, and the food moves through the digestive system for a sufficiently long time, which allows the foliage to be completely and well digested. In the double or triple stomachs of all leaf-eating monkeys, bacteria and protozoa are present, which are responsible for the process of active breakdown of cellulose.

types of monkeys

Monkeys are always at the center of everything funny. Monkeys everywhere left their mark, from fables to the series "Friends". The question is, why do we scratch our heads while thinking and contemplating about something? Monkeys or monkeys - that's to whom all this is attributed, since people evolved from them.

There are two main groups into which monkey species are classified. These are New World primates and Old World primates. New World primates include species from South and Central America, while Old World primates include species from Asia and Africa. Monkeys from the New World have tails with which they can hold objects. On the other hand, Old World monkeys sometimes don't have tails, and if they do, there's little they can do with them. Old World primates, unlike New World primates, have flexible thumbs. Typically, the primate group includes mammals ranging from the tiny shrew to the gorilla. These two groups of primates fall into the Simian group. Almost all types of monkeys are included in this group.

New World primates

New World primates include tamarin monkeys, capuchins, squirrel monkeys (56 species), night monkeys, owl monkeys, douroucoulis (8 species), Titi, Sakis and Uakaris (41 species), howler monkeys, spider monkeys and woolly monkeys (24 species).

Monkeys: live in the upper tier of trees and are quite active. Monkeys feed on insects, fruits and leaves. Long lower incisors enable marmosets to chew on tree trunks, branches, and extract chewing materials.

Squirrel Monkeys: these monkeys are mainly found in Central and South America, in the lower level of forests. squirrel monkeys have short and dense hair. Their backs and limbs are yellow-orange in coloration, and their shoulders are olive. These species have a black and white face, and their heads are covered with hair on top.

Howler Monkeys: the largest of the New World monkeys, they have round, widely spaced nostrils and short muzzles. They can be called the laziest monkeys, because they rarely leave their homes.

Tamarins: These monkeys live in tropical rain forests. They are primarily omnivorous, and can be differentiated as their body coloration usually ranges from shades of black, brown, and white. Their lower fangs are longer than the incisors.

Primates of the Old World

This subgroup includes a whopping 135 species of monkeys. The broader categories of these are baboons, colobus, slender-bodied, macaques, mandrills, and mangabeys. There is another category, the great ape, which is not an ape, but is nevertheless an ape. This is gibbons or "lesser great apes", which include 13 species, and higher primates - orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo (pygmy chimpanzee) and human.

Gibbons: these monkeys, the smallest of the monkeys, have mastered the art of brachiation, that is, they can move from branch to branch. Among the tree-dwelling and non-flying mammals, they are the fastest and most flexible. Their fur can range in color from black and brown to white. They live in tropical and subtropical rainforests in northeastern India, Indonesia, China, and the islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo.

Mandrills: mandrills, according to the Oxford Dictionary in English, means ape-man. They are closer to baboons, but more than baboons, they are close to the Drillam monkey species. Their coat is olive in color and they also have colorful muzzles and rump. They are largest view monkeys in the world.

Baboons. They have long, dog-like muzzles and close-set eyes. Their entire body, except for the muzzle, is covered with thick fur. Their jaws are heavy and powerful. They are primarily terrestrial, mostly found in open savannas, forests, and hills throughout Africa. They are mostly vegetarian, however, they can also eat insects. Thus, they can also be called omnivores.

In addition to the aforementioned species, there are many more varieties of monkeys around the world. In fact, there are many more of these funny and intelligent mammals than we perceive. There is no doubt that this is one of the most interesting mammals on Earth.