MONKEYS

MARMOSET

The family of monkeys divide into two groups. One is the Old World Monkeys which live in Africa and Asia and the other group is the New World monkeys which live in South America.

The New World monkeys are again divided into two families. One family is the Callitrichidae which are the tamarius and marmosets. The other family is the Cebidae which is the capuchin-like monkeys. The Old World monkeys are just one family and they are Cercopithecidae.

The South American monkeys live in the tree-tops. They are perfect climbers and quite a few have gripping tails which is used for climb.

The Old World monkeys living in Africa and Asia and they do not have gripping tails. Their habitat and way of life varies much.

The marmosets and tamarins live in the tropical forest. They are small and their movements are more like squirrels. The tamarins are slightly bigger than the marmosets. They are social animals and usual have a family of up to 15 with breeding pairs and their youngsters. Their diet is fruit and nuts but also eat spiders, snails, frogs and lizards. Adding to their diet are tree gum, sap and latex. Marmosets are experts on gum. They have large bevel-edged incisors with which they chisel into bark and when the trickle of gum starts, they lick it.

In the other family of the New World monkeys are 30 species. They are a big variety including the only monkeys with gripping tails.

WHITE-HEADED CAPUCHIN

CAPUCHINS

The Capuchins live in a group between 10 and 30 including males and females. Only the tip of tail is gripping and used when feeding on flowers, fruit, leaves, insects and small vertebrates.

SQUIRREL MONKEY

SQUIRREL MONKEYS

The small, agile squirrel monkeys are very curious. Their groups can be quite large and up to a 100. They are not territorial. During the mating season the adult males joins the group.

WHITE-EARED TITS - ENTWINING TAILS

TITIS

Titis live in small families. At night they huddles together on a branch and their tails hanging down and twist round each other.

UAKARIS

UAKARIS

Uakaris live only in the swamp of the upper Amazon. Their tail is short but they can leap well. The red uakari has a chestnut coast. Its face is surprisingly red but with no hairs. The forehead and the crown have little hair.

HOWLER MONKEYS

HOWLER MONKEYS

The howler monkeys start their whooping and wailing the moment the sun rises. They share the same territory and each troop start. They pass air through the cavity of their hyoid bone in their throat. Males have larger ones. They are large monkeys and have the gripping tail.

SPIDER MONKEY

SPIDER MONKEYS

The spider monkey not only has a long, gripping tail but also very long arms. Their shoulder joints are more flexible which enables them to swing from branch to branch; their family group is up to 20 with males having several females. When they go feeding on ripe fruit and leaves, they split up into smaller groups.

  

The Old World monkeys have such a wide variety. They range from the 50kg Baboons to the size of a squirrel called tapapoin.

Their sub-family Cercopithecine has about 45 species of proper monkeys. The sub-family has 37 species and are leaf-eaters and colobus monkeys.

Their diet consists on mainly fruit but also seeds, bulbs, roots and leaves. The proper monkeys eat meat if they have the chance. They eat insects, snails, fish, crabs, lizards, birds and mammals. The proper monkeys have thumbs with a good grip as well as cheek pouches near their back teeth. They put their food in them. The colobine monkeys are thumb-less and pouch-less.

BABOONS

Baboons are large, the size of a dog with long muzzles. The males are twice as big as the female. It has a larger jaw and canines and they use it in defence. Most common is the savannah baboons which lives in groups. There are several varieties - chacma, olive, Guinea and yellow. So far 30 species have been specified. However, it was thought that they belong to fife different sub-species. The baboons chew large quantities of grass. Other food is roots, bulbs and may kill hares.

Hamadryas baboons live on the highland of Ethiopia. The males has silvery grey coat, white sideburns, red face and rump. The female is plain. A dominant male keeps his harem of females and young one in check. He bites their neck and chases off any other males with full aggression.

GELADA

The Gelada also lives in the highland of Ethiopia. He is a pure grass-seed-eater and pinches the grass with his thumb and forefingers.

MANDRELL

The Mandrell lives in the forest. The male has a red and blue nose, orange side whiskers and his backside is red, blue and violet.

BARBARY MACAQUE

MACAQUES

Macaques are stocky and medium sized. They live in varies areas of Asia.  The Barbary ape lives in Algeria, Morocco and Gibraltar. It doesn't really belong to the apes but it is thick-set and has no tail. It looks like an ape. It has a thick coat and adapted to the snowy conditions of the Atlas Mountains. The Japanese Macaque has also a shaggy coat because of the harsh winters in northern Japan. A relative to the baboons is the lightly built Mangabey. It lives in the forest. They have long tails and very strong incisors to crack tough seeds and nuts.

VERVET OR GRIVET

VERVET OR GRIVET

The Vervet which is also called grivet is found over a wide area. The monkey has greenish coat, a long tail and a black face. It lives in troops of males and females. The male is bigger than the female. The Vervets live on the ground during the day but sleeps in trees. The Guenons live in the trees and leap from one to the other. Different Guenons live at different tree levels to avoid food shortage.

PATAS

PATAS

The patas has very long legs and an orangey-red coat. Lives during the day on the ground in the dry Savannah areas. It can reach a speed of almost 55km/h.

TALAPOIN

TALAPOIN

The talapoin monkey climbs through the lower level on mangroves, swamps and flooded forests. It even swims and when threatened by a predator it dives deep. It also shares this level with the beautiful mona and moustached monkeys. They usual live at the middle level while the slim Diana monkeys and greater white-nosed monkeys live on the crown of the trees.

COLOBIN

COLOBINAE

The subfamily Colobinae are more slender than their relatives and are different from the subfamily Cercopithecinae. They have no cheek pouches but have large salivary glands and their large stomach is divided into two. They live in Asia and the colobus monkeys live in Africa.

RED COLOBUS

COLOBUS

Colobus are a large species. Their coats differ in their shagginess, colours and shape of tails. They hardly come down to the ground. In the trees they move on all fours, swinging on branches and using flexible branches to catapult themselves. They are sociable and a single male has several females. Their diet is leaves, fruit and flowers. The red colobus is smaller then the white and black colobus. It also lives in a group and feed on leaves, fruit and flowers. It climbs up into the trees, where the other species are, during the feeding session.

PROBOSCIS - MALE

PROBOSCIS

The Proboscis monkeys live in the mangrove swamp of Borneo. They are easily distinguished by their nose. The female has an upturned nose, while the male has quite a big nose. He is twice the size of the female. Their diet is leaves, fruit, young shoot and flowers. They live in a troop of nearly 20 including several males.

PROBOSCIS  -  FEMALE

HANUMAN LANGUR

LANGURS

The Langurs and leaf monkeys ranging from medium to large. They have long tails and long back legs. Their diet is leaves, fruit, roots and tubers. Only the hanuman langur lives mainly on the ground. The other moves on all fours through the branches and leap. Their group consists of females and one or two males and the young ones.

HANUMAN LANGURS IN RISHIKESH