DOUROUCOULI (Aotus trivirgatus)
DOUROUCOULI
(Aotus trivirgatus)
Also known as the night monkey, this is one of the few nocturnal monkeys. It has a small body, a long tail, and a round head with large eyes. Its eyesight is so good that it can run along branches and jump between trees even on dark, moonless nights. Douroucoulis eat a wide range of food, including insects and fruit. They have stretchy pouches under their throats, which they inflate when they call.
JAPANESE MACAQUE
(Macaca fuscata)
Nearly 100 species of monkeys live in the Old World, which includes Europe, Africa, and Asia. Unlike New World monkeys, which live in the Americas, these animals have nostrils that are close together, and their tails are never prehensile. The Japanese macaque is a typical Old World monkey in many ways, but its fur is unusually thick. It needs this warm coat because it lives in a cold climate, farther north than any other primate in the world. Japanese macaques feed on the ground and in trees. During the winter, they sometimes lounge in hot springs to avoid the worst of the cold.
This macaque is the only monkey that lives in Europe. It is similar to the Japanese macaque, but it has no tail. In prehistoric times, Barbary macaques were common in southwestern Europe, but today their only European home is Gibraltar, where they are specially protected. Females give birth to one baby at a time. At first, the young macaque clings to its mother's underside, but it later rides on her back.
This lively and agile animal is one of about 25 closely related species that live in Africa. Most of these monkeys have slender bodies and long tails, and the easiest way to tell them apart is by the colors and patterns on their faces. The vervet usually has a black face surrounded by white fur, and a green-gray body. It lives mainly on plants and is just as good at running as it is at climbing trees. Vervets breed all year round. The mothers suckle their young until they are about six months old.
Baboons are powerfully built African monkeys that spend most of their time on teh ground. They have doglike muzzles and sloping backs, and the males, which are about twice as large as eh females, have fearsome teeth. Baboons will eat almost anything, including young antelope and other mammals. to protect themselves, they forage and sleep in large troops. If a predator threatens them, the males go on the attack while the females and young run up trees for safety.
Mandrills are closely related to baboons. They are the heaviest monkeys in the world, weighing up to 120 pounds. Male mandrills are much larger than females, and they have brilliantly colored faces, with red and blue muzzles. these monkeys live on the ground in dense rain forests and form troops of up to 20 animals, led by an adult male. Although they mostly eat plants, they will also kill anything they can overpower.
In Southern Asia, this black-faced monkey often lives near houses, where it is always on the lookout for food. It is a good runner and an agile climber, so it can escape quickly if it manages to snatch a meal. In the wild, langurs live in forests and rocky places, but they find most of their food on the ground. Langurs are regarded as sacred animals in India, and this has helped them thrive.
The male proboscis monkey is impossible to mistake because it has a pink face and a long swollen nose. Its nose normally hangs down in front of its mouth, but it straightens out when the monkey calls. Proboscis monkeys live in mangrove swamps and feed on shoots and leaves. they normally climb among the mangroves, but they are also good swimmers and will cross deep channels to reach food or to escape from danger.
Colobus monkeys live in African forests, and they hardly ever go down to the ground. The eastern black and white colobus has a remarkably luxurious coat, with black fur over most of its body, apart from two long, white fringes along its sides. Its tail is like a giant tassel, with an enormous tuft of white fur at the tip. Although they do not have thumbs, colobuses are superb climbers. They cling on with their fingers as they run or leap through the trees.
Most primates are good climbers, but gibbons are the unrivaled experts at speeding through the treetops. They have short legs and long arms, and they use their hands like hooks as they swing from branch to branch. This way of moving is called brachiation. gibbons are so good at it that they can reach a speed of about 10 mph, flinging themselves across gaps between the trees. There are eleven species of gibbons, all of which live in the dense forests of the Far East and Southeast Asia. Like all its relatives, the lar gibbon has no tail.
The siamang is the largest gibbon, weighing up to 30 pounds. It has long, black fur and eats mainly fruit, as well as some flowers, buds, and insects. Gibbons live in small family groups. they have loud, hooting calls, and the siamang has one of the loudest. The males and females perform a duet that can be heard over half a mile away. Saimangs usually pair for life and have one baby at a time.
Weighing up to 650 pounds, gorillas are the largest primate in the world. They belong to a group of primates called the great apes. There are only four species of great apes - the gorilla, two kinds of chimpanzees, and the orangutan. they have large brains and are good at picking up and holding things with their hands and feet. Unlike monkeys, great apes sometimes stand upright, and they do not have tails. Gorillas live in forests in groups of up to 20 animals, led by a large male. They feed on the ground and in trees, snapping off leaves and stems with their hands. The group moves on slowly during the day. In the late afternoon, each gorilla makes itself a nest of branches and leaves and settles down to sleep. Recently, the number of gorillas has fallen fast, as a result of hunting and deforestation.
Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives and after humans, probably the most intelligent animals. They live in large groups in grassland and open woodland, communicating with facial expressions and more than 30 different calls. They feed mainly on plants, insects, and other small animals, but they have been known to hunt much larger animals, including monkeys. In the wild, chimpanzees begin to breed between the ages of 13 and 16, and they can live to be about 60 years old.
Bonobos are rarely seen outside their natural home, so they are not as well known as chimpanzees. From a distance, they look very similar to chimpanzees, but their faces are often black, and they have smaller ears and longer legs. They also live in a different habitat - dense rain forest, instead of open woodland. Bonobos feed mainly on fruit and leaves, which they collect in trees.
The orangutan is the second-largest great ape after the gorilla, as well as the only one with red fur. The males can weigh up to 200 pounds and as they get older they develop fleshy pads on either side of their faces. Unlike gorillas, they spend most of their time in the trees, and often live alone. Because orangutans depend on forests for their survival, they are very vulnerable to habitat change. Over the last ten years, their natural home has shrunk dramatically, because large areas of forest have been burned or cut down. Young orangutans are also sometimes taken from their mothers and sold as performing pets - a sad fate for such intelligent animals.
**All Facts and Information contained in this website can be found in the following reference materials: The Kingfisher Illustrated Animal Encyclopedia and The Complete Book of Animals from The American Education Publishers
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BARBARY MACAQUE
VERVET MONKEY OR GREEN GUENON
OLIVE BABOON
MANDRILL
LANGUR
PROBOSCIS MONKEY
EASTERN BLACK AND WHITE COLOBUS
LAR GIBBON
SIAMANG
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BONOBO OR PYGMY CHIMPANZEE
ORANGUTAN