The A to Z of Animal Facts by Stephens Alex

Author:Stephens, Alex [Stephens, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-29T00:00:00+00:00

Monkey

M onkeys are quite a broad species with many different types of monkeys making up the family. From the tiny pygmy marmoset, weighing less than 100 grams, to the emperor tamarin with its huge, white moustache, to the bright bottomed baboon, monkeys are a diverse bunch but there is a single, distinct split of two separate monkey groups .

When it comes to monkeys, they fall into one of two groups: New World monkeys or the Old World monkeys .

New World monkeys, such as the spider monkey, are from Central or South America while those from Africa or Asia, such as baboons and macaques, are called Old World monkeys .

There are numerous differences between these two types of monkeys, following a significant split amongst the world’s monkeys around 40 million years ago .

New world monkeys have flatter, less narrow noses and have tails which are prehensile, meaning they will grip to branches and swing in the trees while the Old World monkeys are not able to do this .

Some more minor differences between the two orders is that New World monkeys see in colour, live in trees, have more teeth but they do not have thumbs .

The tip of a monkey’s tail has a bare, ridged patch which is sensitive and allows the New World monkeys a better grip with that special prehensile tail. Their tail is strong enough that it can hold the monkey’s weight while also being sensitive enough to pick up an item as small as a peanut .

When it comes to tails, it's the female spider monkey who takes the honour of the longest of all the monkeys with theirs reaching lengths of up to 3 feet .

The howler monkey is known for being loud and gets its name from its very loud call, but there is one thing which affects the volume. The smaller the testicles of the howler monkey, the louder it is .

Despite the species split between America and Africa, there is one species which live freely in Europe. There are Barbary marques which live on the island of Gibraltar, right at the southern tip of Spain. The trouble is we don't know how they got there with theories of when they arrived ranging across 1,000 years .

This isn’t the first time that monkeys have been in Europe. Prior to the Ice age, monkeys would have been further north than Asia and Africa and there is a potential that they were even as far north as Britain .

We love monkeys and luckily, we are still finding them. A species of monkey, named the lesula monkey, was identified as recently as 2007 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .

Unlike monkeys, apes will swing arm-to-arm. Monkey’s will run across branches with one exception: the spider monkey. The spider monkey gets its name from its appearance when hanging by its tail amongst the trees .

The infinite monkey theory is a widely recognised theorem that if an infinite amount of monkey’s type on an infinite amount of typewriters, then given enough time, they would type the full works of Shakespeare .

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