- What are monkeys?
- Monkey Characteristics
- Where do monkeys live?
- What do monkeys eat?
- How do monkeys reproduce?
- How long do monkeys live?
We explain everything about the monkey, where it lives, what it feeds on and other characteristics. In addition, how is its reproduction and how long it lives.
What are monkeys?
With the term monkey we usually refer colloquially to any of the 200 species known to tailed primates, classifiable as platyrhines (New World monkeys) or cercopithecoids (Old World monkeys), since they can lead very different life patterns, depending on the habitat and of the species.
Monkeys are mammals sociables of medium intelligence, who are part of our closest evolutionary relatives, something that is obvious given the physical similarities they present with respect to the Body human.
For this reason, it is important to distinguish between monkeys and hominoid apes, such as orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees or gibbons, primates that are evolutionarily much closer to the human being. The difference between one and the other has to do with the presence in monkeys of a tail and a more primitive and smaller skeleton.
However, monkeys share many fundamental characteristics with other primates (including humans), such as their slower development than that of other mammals of similar size, later maturity and a higher life expectancy. , in addition to a more active social life.
In fact, the possibility of zoonosis, that is, the transmission of diseases between monkeys and humans is evidence of the degree of similarity of our physiological systems.
Monkey Characteristics
Broadly speaking, monkeys are characterized by the following features:
- As we have said before, they should be classified into Old World Monkeys (Cercopitecidos) and New World Monkeys (Platyrhines). Each group has its own characteristics, due to the fact that the evolution pushed them down different paths, being geographically separated for 135 million years.
- They are mammalian animals, endowed with four prehensile limbs and a tail, with a body covered with various fur.Their size tends to be small to medium (in the case of Platyrhines) or medium to large (in the case of Cercopitecids).
- They have five-fingered hands, devoid of claws and endowed with an opposable thumb, which allows them to hold onto tree branches and, eventually, grasp instruments. Similarly, their tails can be prehensile (platyrhine) or nonprehensile (cercopitecids).
- They have a dentition similar to that of humans: three molars, two incisors and a tusk on each side of the mouth.
- They have a great visual capacity, a predominant sense for others, followed by hearing and lastly, smell. The eyes are large and directed forward, allowing stereoscopic vision.
- They are social animals, which form herds with different levels of organization and hierarchy.
Where do monkeys live?
Monkeys can be found in habitats as diverse as the jungle and the savannah.
Monkeys have a wild presence in America, Asia Y Africa, and the vast majority inhabit jungles Y woods bushy, although many species have adapted to life in large bed sheets. Old World monkeys (cercopitecids) inhabit Africa, Asia, and parts of the Middle East; while the New World monkeys (platyrhines) inhabit the American continent.
What do monkeys eat?
In general, like the rest of the primates, monkeys have a diet omnivorous and opportunistic, who chooses a wide variety of food sources.
The vast majority make up their diet from products of the jungle vegetation, such as fruits, leaves, shoots, flowers, stems, seeds and resins, with special emphasis on insects to obtain nutrients present in the animal organism. However, there are species adapted to eating meat, for which they hunt small rodents, birds, lizards, bats, squirrels and even snakes.
How do monkeys reproduce?
The reproduction of monkeys is always sexual Y viviparous, very similar to human. Their gestations are long and lactation long, and very few young (one or two) are usually born at each delivery.
How long do monkeys live?
The life expectancy of monkeys in the wild can vary immensely depending on the species. The smallest can be around 15 to 20 years old, while the largest species can live 35 to 45 years. These periods may be slightly longer in ideal captivity.