The largest monkeys in the world. Where do monkeys live in the wild? Where are the monkeys

Primates have always interested people more than other animals. This is largely due to Darwin's theory and anthropological data on certain species. Next, let's look at where monkeys live, their varieties and life cycle features.

general information

There are several hundred species of primates in nature, the most famous of which are apes. The length of a monkey's body can vary from a few centimeters to two meters. As a rule, these animals lead an arboreal lifestyle and live in groups. Omnivorous animals are active during the day. Preferences in plant or animal food depend on the habitat. Where do monkeys live? Let's look at their living environment by family.

Marmosets and galags

The Marmoset family belongs to the smallest species of primates. They are very active and mobile, live in trees, perform all important tasks during the day, and sleep in tree hollows at night. The main food is fruits, seeds, birds and insects. Habitat regions: Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia.

The nocturnal animals of galagos are very active jumpers. The main diet is fruits, other fruits, and invertebrates. Habitat - Africa. These can be either dry regions with thorny bushes or places with a tropical climate.

Family of apes

Next, let's look at where do monkeys that are most similar to humans live and what do they eat? These animals can be short, medium or tall. The mass of animals is, depending on the genus and species, from five to three hundred kilograms. Distinctive features are the massive build of the body, long front and short hind limbs. The head is round in shape with a prominent facial part. They also have a well-developed brain.

Mostly great apes live in tropical forests, lead a diurnal lifestyle, and spend a lot of time in trees. Habitat regions: Equatorial Africa, Southeast Asia and adjacent island territories. Food: fruits of trees, parts of bushes, insects, birds, small animals.

Gibbons

This family is characterized by the following features:

• body length - from 450 to 900 millimeters;
• body weight - from 8 to 13 kilograms;
• original structure with particularly elongated forelimbs;
• primates have an ischial callus;
• animals have thick hair;
• The color of the animals varies from cream to black or brown.

Gibbon families live primarily in tropical forests in trees, feeding on leaves and fruits. Habitat: Kalimantan, Sumatra, Java, Indochina, Thailand, Burma.

Where do dwarf lemurs live?

The largest individuals of these animals reach 460 grams. They live in eastern tropical forests and western drylands. Depending on the region, the animals have a red-brown color or a gray tint. Many of these primates live on the island of Madagascar. Unlike most other monkeys, lemurs are nocturnal, mostly in trees. They build nests in the form of balls of leaves and use natural hollows as homes. The animals usually feed on fruits and roots.

Tarsiers

Below we describe where (in which country) monkeys of the tarsier family live, which are a transitional link between lemurs and lower species. Features of these animals:

• small size - from 280 to 400 millimeters with a tail 6-25 cm long;
• weight - 150 g (maximum);
• The animals have a relatively large and very mobile head, which can be rotated 180°.
• shortened muzzle;
• eyes - large bulging;
• well-developed heel section;
• the wool is velvety, reddish or gray in color;
• the long elastic tail has a tassel at the end;
• diet - vertebrates, insects, lizards, birds and eggs.

Habitat: Southeast Asia. In this case, a certain species occupies a specific territory (the islands of the Philippine, Sunda and Malay archipelago).

Hands

This family is represented by one species and is listed in the Red Book. Individuals are small in size, have a slender and somewhat elongated body, a rounded head, and a shortened facial part. Monkeys have rough, brown or black fur.

Where do monkeys of this family live? Their main habitats are bamboo and mangrove thickets, as well as jungles. Primates are active at night, lead an arboreal lifestyle, sleeping in tree hollows or in their crowns. The main food is insects and larvae. This rare species can only be found in Madagascar.

Monkeys

Features of this family:

• the category includes eight genera of primates;
• some of them are tailless;
• the body type is different - from an elegant light body to a massive and heavy body;
• hind limbs shorter than front legs;
• the hairline is long and silky;
• hair covers the entire body, including the ischium, soles and hind legs.

Where do monkeys live? In the jungle, on open plains, rocky places. Mangroves are the main habitats of apes. Some of them lead an arboreal lifestyle, others move on the ground. During the day, animals are active; at night, they roost in caves or tree cavities. Population regions - Southeast Asia, Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Gibraltar.

Capuchins

This is the most numerous species of primates (11 genera). The animals are medium to small in size and have a long, hairy tail. Some individuals can use it as an organ of touch. The hair of prehensile-tailed primates (capuchins) is thick and uniform in color. The facial part of the head is shortened, the nostrils are clearly separated, and the large eyes have pronounced eyelids.

These representatives of primates are excellent at moving through trees, feeding on plant foods, but they do not disdain insects, bird eggs and other small animals. Capuchins hold prey with the help of their front paws; their muzzle is capable of expressing some emotions. Habitat: South and Central America, Argentina, Mexico.

Where does the spider monkey live?

This category of primates lives on tree branches and moves along them with the help of prehensile limbs. Animals live in families of up to twenty individuals, which are also divided into groups of 4-5 representatives. They lead a diurnal lifestyle, feeding on plant and animal foods.

Depending on the species, the coat color of arachnid primates can vary from gray to black. The main habitat is Peru, Central and South America, Brazil, Bolivia. Above we looked at where many, many wild monkeys live. It is worth noting that, despite the beauty and visual good nature of some representatives of primates, in fact they can be cunning and very dangerous. In our country, you can see monkeys in zoos located in large cities.

It’s probably no secret to anyone that for a long time in scientific circles the monkey was considered our closest relative, and the origin of man was traced back to the monkey. Now this scientific theory is being questioned; not all scientists believe that we, the so-called “Homo sapiens,” descended from monkeys. However, scientific debates on this matter are still ongoing, but our article is not about this, but about those amazing creatures, our smaller brothers, who, among all the diverse animal world of planet Earth, are really most similar in structure to us, people.

Monkey: description, structure, characteristics. What does a monkey look like?

Let's start with the fact that the very origin of the name “monkey” is very curious. Until the 16th century, we called the monkey “opitsa”; by the way, the Czechs still call it that way. After the Russian traveler Afanasy Nikitin returned from his famous trip to India, he brought into use the Persian name “abuzina,” literally meaning “father of fornication.” Subsequently, the Persian “abuzina” was transformed into “monkey”.

The body length of a monkey, depending on its species, can range from 15 cm (for the pygmy marmoset) to 2 m (for the gorilla). Also, the mass of a monkey can range from 150 grams for the smallest representatives of the species, up to 275 kg - this is how much huge gorillas weigh.

Many monkeys lead an arboreal lifestyle, that is, they primarily live in trees and, as a result, have a long back, a shortened narrow chest, and thin hip bones. But orangutans and gibbons have a wide chest and massive pelvic bones.

Some monkeys have a very long tail, the length of which can even exceed the size of the body; the monkey's tail acts as a balancer when moving between trees. But monkeys living on the ground have a very short tail. As for monkeys without a tail, all “humanoid” monkeys do not have it (just as humans do not have it).

The body of monkeys is covered with fur of different colors, depending on the species it can be light brown, red, black and white, gray-olive. Some adult monkeys may turn gray with age, and male monkeys may go bald, again much like humans.

Monkeys have mobile, well-developed upper limbs, very similar to our hands, each with five fingers, and monkeys living in trees have short and large fingers, which allows them to comfortably fly from branch to branch.

Monkeys have binocular vision, many of them have black pupils.

The teeth of monkeys are also similar to humans; narrow-nosed monkeys have 32 teeth, and broad-nosed monkeys have 36.

The monkey’s brain is also very well developed; among other representatives of the animal world, only dolphins could compete with monkeys in terms of intelligence. Apes have entire sections of the brain responsible for meaningful actions.

Monkeys communicate with each other using a special signaling system consisting of facial expressions and sounds. The most “chatty” among them are monkeys and capuchins; they have rich facial expressions and are able to express a wide range of feelings.

Where do monkeys live

Monkeys live on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica, of course. In Europe they live only in Gibraltar, in southeast Asia, Africa (with the exception of Madagascar), Central and South America, and Australia.

Monkey lifestyle

Monkeys live in small families and, according to their lifestyle, are divided into arboreal monkeys, living in trees, and terrestrial monkeys, living on the ground. Monkeys tend to be sedentary and rarely leave their territory.

Sometimes there are clashes between male monkeys, with the goal of resolving the answer to the question “who is the main male here,” although often such clashes are limited to a demonstration of the strength of each male and do not lead to a real fight.

How long do monkeys live?

On average, the life expectancy of monkeys is 30-40 years. However, great apes live longer; they can live up to 50 years.

What do monkeys eat?

Monkeys are omnivores, and their diet depends on the species and also the habitat. Tree monkeys eat everything that can be obtained from the trees - various fruits, nuts, and sometimes insects.

Land monkeys eat rhizomes and shoots of plants (for example, ferns are a favorite delicacy of the gorilla), fruits (figs, mangoes, and, of course, bananas). Also, some monkeys know how to fish and happily eat mollusks, rodents, grasshoppers, beetles and other small animals.

Although there are species of monkeys that eat only one, specific food, for example, Japanese stump-tailed macaques are pure vegetarians and feed exclusively on tree bark, and the crab-eating macaque, as its name suggests, feeds on crabs.

Monkey Enemies

Unfortunately, the monkeys themselves have many natural enemies who are not averse to feasting on these primates. The most sworn enemies of monkeys are leopards, who are also capable of climbing trees well, and other predatory animals - lions, cheetahs.

Types of monkeys, photos and names

In general, all types of monkeys can be divided into:

• broad-nosed monkeys - this includes monkeys living on the American continent,
• narrow-nosed monkeys are all other monkeys that live in Africa, Asia, Australia and European Gibraltar.

Regarding different species of monkeys, zoologists have separately distinguished the species of anthropoid apes, species of small monkeys, etc. In general, there are more than 400 species of these primates in nature, below we will describe the most interesting of them.

It is a member of the spider monkey family. It is so named due to the fact that it produces characteristic sounds that can be heard at a distance of up to 5 km. Male black howler monkeys are covered with black fur and fully justify their name, but female black howler monkeys are not black at all, their fur is yellow-brown or olive in color. The length of this monkey is 56-67 cm, with a weight of 6.7 kg. The black howler monkey lives in South America, in countries such as Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia.

Belonging to the prehensile-tailed family, the capuchin is an arboreal monkey that lives in trees. The weight of a capuchin is 3 kg. It has a brown or gray-brown color. A very curious feature of this species of monkeys is their habit of rubbing themselves with poisonous centipedes () to protect themselves from blood-sucking insects. Mourning capuchins live in the crowns of tropical forests in Brazil and Venezuela.

It got its unusual name thanks to its gray color with shades of blue and a white stripe of fur that runs over the eyebrows like a crown. The body length of the crowned monkey is 50-60 cm and weighs 5-6 kg. Monkeys live in African forests from the Congo River basin to Ethiopia and Angola.

Belongs to the apes of the gibbon family. It is 55-65 cm in length and weighs 5-6 kg. The coat color of the white-handed gibbon can be black, sand or brown, but its hands are always white, hence the name. These gibbons live in the tropical forests of China and the Malay Archipelago.

Eastern gorilla

Gorilla is the largest ape in the world. The average size of a gorilla is 185 cm with a body weight of 180 kg. Although sometimes you come across larger gorillas, weighing up to 220 kg. These huge monkeys are distinguished by their large heads, broad shoulders, and open chests. The color of the gorilla's coat is black; in old age, gorillas, like people, can turn gray. Despite their menacing appearance, gorillas prefer to eat grass and plant shoots rather than hunt game. Gorillas live in the equatorial forests of Central and Western Africa.

He is also a white-headed saki, in our opinion this monkey has the strangest appearance - the black color of his fur contrasts brightly with the white color of his face. The size of pale saki is 30-48 cm and weighs 2 kg. This is an arboreal monkey living in the forests of Brazil, Venezuela, and Suriname.

He is also a frog baboon, a species of narrow-nosed monkeys that spend their entire lives exclusively on the ground. It is also a fairly large monkey, the body length of the hamadryas is 70-100 cm, weight 30 kg. It also has an unusual appearance - long hair on the shoulders and chest forms a kind of fur cape. The hamadryas lives in both Africa and Asia in a number of countries, such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen.

The proboscis monkey, also known as kahau, belongs to the monkey family. A striking feature of this monkey is its large nose, which the monkeys even have to hold with their hands while eating. It has a yellow-brown color. The size of the proboscis monkey is 66-77 cm and weighs 15-22 kg. It also has a long tail, which is equal in size to the length of their body. These unusual species of monkeys live exclusively on the island of Borneo.

Living in the northern part of the Japanese island of Honshu, this monkey is a real calling card of these places. The size of the Japanese macaque is 80-95 cm, weight 12-14 kg. These monkeys have bright red skin, which is especially noticeable on their face and buttocks, which are devoid of fur. Macaques living in northern Japan survive the cold winter months in special thermal springs, warming up in their hot waters (and at the same time attracting crowds of tourists from all over the world).

The Sumatran orangutan is a fairly large monkey, its size reaches one and a half meters and weighs 150-160 kg. In terms of size, the orangutan ranks second after the gorilla. It has well-developed muscles, a massive body covered with red hair, and is an excellent tree climber. The orangutan's face has fat pads located on the cheeks, and the beard and mustache give it a very funny look. The charismatic Sumatran orangutan lives exclusively on the island of Sumatra.

For some reason, monkeys are most associated with chimpanzees, which are the most characteristic representative of the monkey kingdom. Chimpanzees are also relatively large monkeys, their body length is 140-160 cm and their weight is 65-80 kg, that is, they are the same size as humans. The body of a chimpanzee is covered with black fur. It is also very curious that these anthropoid apes are the only ones who thought of creating a kind of tools that facilitate the process of obtaining food, they are able to sharpen the ends of sticks, turning them into imitation spears, they can use stone leaves as traps for insects, etc. Without a doubt, chimpanzees are the most intelligent among the apes, and if Darwin’s theory is right, then they are the ones who are in the closest family relationship with us humans. Chimpanzees live mainly in Central and Western Africa.

And finally, it was impossible not to mention the pygmy marmoset - the smallest monkey in the world. Its length is only 10-15 cm, weight – 100-150 grams. They live in the forests of South America, feeding exclusively on tree sap.

Reproduction of monkeys in nature

Monkey reproduction occurs throughout the year and each species has its own individual characteristics. Puberty in monkeys usually occurs at 7-8 years. Some species of monkeys are monogamous and create permanent families for life, others, such as capuchins, on the contrary, are polygamous, so female capuchins mate with several males, and the males do the same.

A monkey's pregnancy can last from 6 to 8.5 months, again depending on the species. Usually one baby is born at a time, but there are species of monkeys that can give birth to twins.

Little monkeys, like real primates, are fed with their mother's breast milk, and the period of feeding also varies from one monkey to another. The female gorilla feeds her cubs the longest - this period lasts up to 3.5 years.

Keeping monkeys at home

Despite the fact that monkeys are wild creatures, they are nevertheless very easy to train, get used to captivity, and, under favorable conditions, feel quite comfortable in zoos. True, keeping a monkey at home is not the best idea, they are terrible mischievous and restless, and if you have already decided to have a pet monkey, then you should be prepared for it to create real chaos in your home. To prevent this, the monkey can be kept in a spacious cage.

You can feed the monkey fish, chicken or turkey, boiled eggs, vegetables, nuts, and fresh fruits.

• Some species of monkeys are very clean and spend almost the whole day caring for their appearance.
• During the development of astronautics, 32 monkeys have already visited space.
• Spider monkeys have such a developed and strong tail that they can easily hang on a tree branch with its help alone.
• A group of American scientists managed to teach a female gorilla a certain number of words from the language of the deaf and dumb, after which she was able to quite successfully communicate with people.

Monkeys, video

And in conclusion, an interesting documentary about monkeys from the Discovery Channel - “Monkeys on the Warpath”

When writing the article, I tried to make it as interesting, useful and high-quality as possible. I would be grateful for any feedback and constructive criticism in the form of comments on the article. You can also write your wish/question/suggestion to my email. [email protected] or on Facebook, sincerely the author.

In the language of the indigenous people of Africa - the Luba tribe - "chimpanzee" means "human-like." The truth of this statement has been scientifically proven. Scientists estimate that the evolutionary paths of chimpanzees and humans diverged just 6 million years ago. And today it is the most striking and amazing representative of the genus of anthropoid primates, genetically and biochemically the closest to Homo sapiens. For example, the similarity between our DNA is almost 90%.

Description of chimpanzee

But the “humanity” of chimpanzees is not limited to DNA similarity.

Appearance

Chimpanzees, just like humans, have blood types and individual fingerprints.. They can be distinguished by them - the pattern never repeats. Chimpanzees differ in height from humans. The largest males do not exceed 1.5 meters in height. Females are even lower – 1.3 meters. But at the same time, chimpanzees are very strong physically and have well-developed muscles, which not every Homo sapiens can boast of.

The structure of the skull is distinguished by pronounced brow ridges, a flat nose and a strongly protruding jaw armed with sharp teeth. The skull is made by nature with a reserve - the brain occupies only half of its volume. The front and hind legs of chimpanzees are the same length. An outstanding feature of the structure of their paws is the thumb, which is located at a distance from the rest and allows the monkey to deftly handle small objects.

The entire body of a chimpanzee is covered with fur. Nature made an exception for the face, palms and soles of the monkey’s feet. Adolescent chimpanzees have a small white area among their dark thick fur - in the area of ​​​​the tailbone. As the monkey ages, the hairs darken and turn brown. This feature allows chimpanzees to distinguish children from adults and treat them accordingly. It has been noticed that monkeys with white “islands” on the tailbone get away with a lot, that is, from their paws. Adult primates do not punish them for pranks and do not demand much. But as soon as the white hairs disappear, childhood ends.

Chimpanzee species

Chimpanzees belong to the genus of great apes and are related to gorillas and orangutans. There are two types of chimpanzees - the common chimpanzee and the bonobo chimpanzee. Bonobos are often called “pygmy chimpanzees,” which is not entirely true. The bonobo is not a dwarf as such, it’s just that the structure of its body differs from the ordinary chimpanzee in greater grace. Also, this species, the only one of the monkeys, has red lips, like those of humans.

The common chimpanzee has subspecies:

• black-faced or chimpanzee what - distinguished by freckles on the face;
• Western chimpanzee - has a black mask on its face in the shape of a butterfly;
• Schweinfurt - has two distinctive features: a light face, which acquires a dirty tint with age, and longer hair than its relatives.

Character and lifestyle

Chimpanzee is a social animal, lives in groups of up to 20-30 individuals. The group is led by a male in common chimpanzees, and by a female in bonobos. The leader is not always the strongest primate in the group, but he must be the most cunning. He needs to be able to build relationships with his relatives in such a way that they obey him. To do this, he chooses a company of close associates, such as security guards, whom he can rely on in case of danger. The rest of the male competitors are kept in fear of obedience.

When a leader “fails” due to old age or injury, his place is immediately taken by a younger and more promising “commander”. Females in the pack also obey a strict hierarchy. There are female leaders who are in a special position. Males pay increased attention to them, and this secures their chosen status. These chimpanzees get the tastiest morsels and the largest number of suitors during the mating period.

This is interesting! Bonobos, due to the lack of aggression in their character, resolve all conflicts within the group peacefully - by mating.

Female chimpanzees are considered to be more docile but less intelligent than males when it comes to learning and training. But they express great affection for a person and do not harbor the threat of aggressive disobedience, unlike males, who are “led astray from the righteous path” by the instinct of dominance. A social lifestyle makes it easier for chimpanzees to hunt, protect offspring, and helps to accumulate useful skills in a group. They learn a lot from each other while living together. Scientists have proven that lonely monkeys have reduced overall health indicators. The appetite is worse than that of collective relatives, and the metabolism is slowed down.

Chimpanzees are forest dwellers. They need trees. They build nests on them, find food, and use them to escape, grabbing branches, from the enemy. But, with equal success, these monkeys also move on the ground, using all four paws. Walking upright, on two legs, is not typical for chimpanzees in the natural environment.

It has been noted that chimpanzees are inferior to orangutans in tree-climbing dexterity, but are superior to gorillas in the cleanliness of their nests. The design of chimpanzee nests is not elegant and is made simply - from branches and sticks, assembled together in a chaotic manner. Chimpanzees sleep only in nests, in trees, for safety reasons.

Chimpanzees can swim, but they don't like it. They generally prefer not to get wet unless absolutely necessary. Their main pastime is eating and relaxing. Everything is leisurely and measured. The only thing that disturbs the monkeys’ life harmony is the appearance of an enemy. In this case, the chimpanzees raise an incredible cry. Chimpanzees are capable of producing up to 30 types of sounds, but they cannot reproduce human speech, since they “speak” while exhaling, and not while inhaling, like a person. Communication within the group is also facilitated by body language and body posture. There is also facial expressions. Chimpanzees can smile and change their facial expressions.

Chimpanzees are smart animals. These monkeys learn quickly. Living with a person, they easily adopt his manners and habits, sometimes demonstrating amazing results. It is a known fact that a sailor's monkey could handle an anchor and sails and was able to light the stove in the galley and keep the fire going.

Living in a group, chimpanzees successfully exchange their accumulated experience. Young animals learn from mature primates simply by observing and copying their behavior. In their natural habitat, these monkeys themselves came up with the idea of ​​using sticks and stones as tools for obtaining food, and large plant leaves as a scoop for water or an umbrella in case of rain, or a fan, or even toilet paper.

Chimpanzees are capable of admiring a flower that has no nutritional value, or carefully studying a crawling python.

This is interesting! Unlike humans, a chimpanzee will not destroy objects and living beings that are useless and harmless to him; rather, on the contrary. There are cases of chimpanzees feeding turtles. Just!

How long does a chimpanzee live?

In the harsh environment of the wild, chimpanzees rarely live beyond 50 years of age. But in the zoo, under human supervision, this monkey was allowed to live up to 60 years.

Range, habitats

Chimpanzees are inhabitants of Central and Western Africa. They choose tropical rainforests and montane forests with plenty of vegetation. Today, bonobos can only be found in Central Africa - in the rainforests between the Congo and Lualaba rivers.

Populations of common chimpanzees are registered in the territories of: Cameroon, Guinea, Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and a number of other countries in equatorial Africa.

It’s not for nothing that monkeys are called four-armed mammals. Most representatives of this species live in the crowns of trees, deftly moving from branch to branch. In the dense equatorial forests there are primates that never come down to earth. For example, royal guerres, which live in Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia, spend their entire lives in the crowns of trees. They are excellent jumpers and cover long distances by jumping from branch to branch.

Large and medium-sized monkeys often descend from trees to the ground. Some, such as baboons, live exclusively on the ground, completely ignoring trees. They gather in large groups and, moving together, are able to withstand even such large predators as leopards and lions.

Most monkeys live in warm climates and do not tolerate cold well. However, some species have adapted to living conditions in the cold. Thus, Japanese macaques live on the northern island of Honshu, where the average winter temperature is -5°C, and snow cover can last up to four months a year. The bodies of these animals are covered with thick and long hair, which reliably protects them from cold winds. In addition, snow macaques have learned to take advantage of the geological features of the Japanese islands - they spend most of their time basking in the water of hot springs. Also, some species of monkeys living in the mountains of China and South America successfully tolerate sub-zero temperatures.

Monkey habitat

Primates are mainly found in the tropics and subtropics of Africa, South America and southeast Asia. Africa is almost entirely inhabited by various species of monkeys, with the exception of the Sahara Desert. Among the many primates found on the continent, the great apes, chimpanzees and gorillas, are of particular interest. On the island of Madagascar, contrary to popular belief, there are no primates. But their more primitive “relatives” – lemurs – live here.

In Asia, the habitat of monkeys includes the entire Indo-Malayan region, most of China, the south of the Korean Peninsula, numerous Indian islands and partly the Japanese islands. Orangutans, large apes, are found in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

In South America, the greatest diversity of primate species is found in the Amazon basin. Here you can meet the smallest monkeys from the marmoset family. The forests of Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela are also home to howler monkeys, saimiris and various species of capuchins.

A monkey (anthropoid, higher primate) is a mammal, closest in structure to humans, belongs to the order Primates, suborder of dry-nosed primates, infraorder Simiiformes.

The origin of the Russian word “monkey” is quite interesting. Until the 16th century, the monkey in Rus' was called “opitsa” - the same as the Czechs now call it. At the same time, the Persians called the monkey “elderberry”. According to one version, Afanasy Nikitin brought this name with him from his travels and used it in his work “Walking across Three Seas.” According to another version, the monkey got its name from the word “abu zina”. At the same time, Ushakov’s dictionary clarifies that “abuzina” is translated from Arabic as “father of fornication.”

• Common chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes)

a species of monkey whose habitat covers the forested areas of the tropics and humid savannas of the African continent, especially its western and central parts. Mature male chimpanzees reach a height of 140-160 cm, and monkeys weigh between 65-80 kg. Females weigh 40-50 kg with a height of 120-130 cm. The body of the animals is covered with very coarse, hard fur of a dark brown hue. Near the mouth and on the tailbone the fur is partially white, but the feet, palms and muzzle of the monkey are completely devoid of it. Common chimpanzees are practically omnivorous, although the main part of their diet is plant food. These monkeys happily eat nuts and fruits, sweet potato leaves and tubers, feed on mushrooms and termites, and feast on sweet honey, bird eggs and small vertebrates. It is not uncommon for a school of chimpanzees to successfully hunt red colobus monkeys (primates from the monkey family) and even young ungulates, replenishing the lack of nutrients with meat. Chimpanzee monkeys are the only primates capable of creating the semblance of tools that facilitate the process of obtaining food: they skillfully sharpen the ends of sticks and twigs, turning them into imitation spears, use palm leaves as traps for insects, and use stones in the form of projectiles.

• Pygmy marmoset ( Cebuella pygmaea)

this is the smallest monkey in the world. Adults grow up to 10-15 cm in length and weigh from 100 to 150 g. They inhabit the forests of South America and feed mainly on tree sap.

Reproduction of monkeys in nature

Monkeys are social animals and prefer to stay in packs, led by a dominant male and consisting of several females with offspring. Monkey reproduction occurs all year round and has individual characteristics for each species.

Monkeys reach sexual maturity at 7-8 years of age. Some species form strong monogamous families for life. Other female species, such as capuchins, mate with multiple males and vice versa.

In such groups, there are frequent cases of infanticide, when male monkeys kill cubs born by a female from another male, because a nursing mother is not able to become pregnant.

Pregnancy of a monkey, depending on the species, lasts from 6 to 8.5 months, usually 1 baby is born, although marmosets often give birth to twins.

Breastfeeding in different species of monkeys has different periods; female gorillas feed their cubs with milk for up to 3.5 years and, accordingly, give birth once every 4 years. Although, some species of monkeys give birth every year.

Most female monkeys are caring and loving mothers, tenderly protecting their young. While the babies are growing up, the mother occasionally goes hunting, leaving the cub in the care of other female caregivers.

Young monkeys leave the group when they reach sexual maturity. Individuals of some species wander alone for a long time, others quickly create their own harems.

Despite the fact that monkeys are wild animals, they quickly get used to living in captivity and, with proper care, do well in zoos. These cute animals are favorites of spectators at circus performances: due to their well-developed intelligence, they are easy to train, despite their not very submissive disposition. Some brave souls keep monkeys at home, although this usually doesn't last long. Funny animals are terrible fidgets and mischief-makers, ready to constantly be on the move and cause chaos in the owner’s home.

If you do decide to get such a pet, keep in mind: it is advisable to keep a monkey at home in a spacious cage, or it is better to allocate a separate room for its habitat in order to avoid eternal chaos in the apartment. A domestic monkey can be fed fish and chicken or turkey, boiled eggs and cereal grains, fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables and insects (bugs, grasshoppers, caterpillars).

Do not forget that almost all monkeys have an aggressive character, which is associated with natural instincts, and sometimes it is impossible to keep track of changes in their mood.

And one more nuance: you are unlikely to be able to train a monkey to “do its business” in a tray, so be prepared to clean up after it often, using products to remove unpleasant odors and disinfection.

• Nobody questions the intelligence of monkeys anymore. During an experiment conducted by one of the American universities, a female gorilla was taught a certain number of words from the language of the deaf and dumb, after which the animal began to communicate quite adequately with people.
• Some species of monkeys are very clean and devote a fifth of the day to caring for their appearance.
• Over the entire history of astronautics, 32 monkeys have flown into space.
• Night monkeys are the only family of primates that are nocturnal. During the day they rest in the hollows of trees, and 15 minutes after sunset they actively go about their business until midnight. Then they rest again for about 2 hours and again go in search of food before dawn.
• Capuchins are rightfully considered the smartest monkeys in America. Before eating the nut, they crack the shell with stones or sharp tree branches. And before eating a frog, they wipe the mucus off it on the bark of trees.
• Spider monkeys can hang from a branch using only their tail, without using their limbs.