Did you know....
1. There are over 360 species of primates. There are about 14 different
kinds of Apes, 200 kinds of Monkeys and about 50 kinds of Prosimians.
2.
You can't just call all primates "monkeys." They are divided
in similar families.
-
Apes
are the largest primates. They have longer arms than legs and
no hair on their faces. They also have no tails. Apes live in
Africa and Asia. They include gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans,
bonobos, gibbons
and siamangs.
-
Monkeys
can be found living in the tropics throughout the world. The monkeys
of Africa and Asia include baboons, macaques, and colobus monkeys.
The
monkeys of Central and South America include marmosets, tamarins,
and capuchins.
-
Prosimians
live in Africa and Asia. These are the smallest primates. Most
are nocturnal and have large eyes to help them see in the dark.
They include aye-ayes, bush-babies, lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers.
3.
The the tiny pygmy mouse lemur will fit into the palm of your hand
and is the smallest primate. The largest is the mountain gorilla
which can stand as tall as 6 feet and weight up to 600 pounds.
4. Primates
live in tropical forests, living and eating among the trees. They
are omnivores feeding on fruit, flower buds, insects, seeds, nuts,
leaves, bark, etc...
5. Primates
have their eyes faced forward and can see in color.
6. Primates
have 5 fingers and opposable thumbs for holding and picking up. Some
have claws for climbing trees and others have flat fingernails.
7. Many
species of primates are endangered and threatened. Their decreasing
numbers are due to loss of habitat, capture for pets (where many babies
die and mothers are killed for meat) and bushmeat hunters.
