20 Fun Facts About Monkeys

Which group of monkeys lives mainly in Central and South America and often has prehensile tails?

New World Monkeys live in the Americas, and many species, like spider and howler monkeys, have prehensile tails that can grasp objects and support their weight. Old World Monkeys of Africa and Asia do not.

Which very loud primates have an enlarged hyoid bone that acts as a resonating chamber?

Male howlers face a trade-off: bigger hyoids come with smaller testes, so the loudest males invest in shouting rather than sperm.

What is the heaviest monkey species, known for red and blue facial ridges?

It is also the most sexually dimorphic primate: males are far bigger and more brightly coloured than females.

Which continent is NOT home to any native monkey species?

Monkeys split into New World (Central and South America) and Old World (Africa and Asia) groups, and neither reached Australia.

Which Old World monkey, endemic to Borneo, is famous for the huge nose of its males?

The Proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) is an Old World monkey found exclusively on the island of Borneo. Its most distinguishing feature is the large, pendulous nose of the adult males.

Which non-ape primate has been observed using stone tools in the wild to crack open nuts?

Capuchins position a nut on a flat anvil stone and strike it with a heavier hammer stone, choosing hammers of specific weights for different foods.

Old World Monkeys typically have nostrils that face in which direction?

A key anatomical difference between Old World and New World monkeys lies in their noses. Old World monkeys (Catarrhini) have narrow noses with downward-facing nostrils, while New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) have broad, flat noses with widely spaced, sideways-facing nostrils.

Which dietary label fits most monkey species?

Menus vary by species but can run from fruit, leaves, seeds and flowers to eggs, insects, spiders and other small animals.

The rhesus macaque has the widest range of any non-human primate, across which region?

Its range runs from Afghanistan through India to northern Thailand, across South, Central and Southeast Asia.

Which monkey group generally has more opposable, human-like thumbs?

Most New World monkeys lack a truly opposable thumb (some cebids excepted), so the Old World group gets the better grip.

Which Old World primates have only stubs for thumbs, an adaptation for swinging through trees?

The name colobus comes from the Greek for 'docked' or 'mutilated', a reference to the missing thumb.

What is the common collective noun for a group of monkeys?

'Tribe' is the other accepted term; a mandrill 'horde' in Gabon has been counted at 845 animals, possibly the largest cohesive primate group in the wild.

Which monkey species is considered the smallest in the world?

An adult weighs just over 100 grams, yet it can leap up to 5 metres between branches in the western Amazon.

What do macaques and baboons use their internal cheek pouches for?

Old World monkeys like macaques, baboons, and mandrills have cheek pouches that allow them to quickly gather and store food while foraging, to be eaten later in a safer location.

Most New World monkeys are primarily ______ animals, spending the majority of their lives in trees.

New World monkeys are generally more arboreal, meaning they spend most of their time in trees, using their agility and often prehensile tails to navigate the canopy.

Which monkey species is famous for soaking in hot springs in winter, a habit begun in the 1960s?

The 'snow monkeys' of Jigokudani were lured to the springs to keep them away from farmers' crops; they have also been seen rolling snowballs for fun.

The gelada, a monkey with a bare red 'bleeding heart' chest patch, lives only in which country's highlands?

Geladas live only in the Ethiopian Highlands at up to 4,400 m, and they are the last surviving species of a genus once spread across Africa and into Spain and India.

Which monkey species is known for its strong affinity for water and is considered a good swimmer?

Rhesus macaques readily swim across rivers, which once ruined a plan to keep a research colony isolated on a river island.

Digs in Brazil show capuchin monkeys have used stone tools to crack nuts for roughly how long?

Excavated hammer stones at Serra da Capivara National Park stretch the record back some 3,000 years, and the monkeys have shifted from small cashews to bigger, harder nuts over that time.

Which species is generally considered the longest monkey, counting body and tail?

While another species is the heaviest, the chacma baboon is often considered the longest monkey species when body and tail lengths are combined, with adult males reaching up to 45 inches in body length and a tail up to 33 inches.