Amaizing Animal Facts: Types of Monkeys

Types of monkeys are classified into two major groups, the New World primates (South and Central America) and the Old World primates (Asia and Africa). The major difference, besides living on different continents, is that the New World primates have tails that can grasp and hold things while the Old World primates can't do much with their tails and sometimes have no tail at all. New World primates do not have versatile opposable thumbs like many other primates and most Old World primates do.

New World Monkeys

Baby Pygmy Marmosets

See more about the Pygmy Marmoset

Squirrel Monkey

See more about Squirrel Monkeys

Spider Monkey

With its very long arms the spider monkey may be the most acrobatic of all the monkeys, looping and swinging very long distances.

Tufted Capuchins

White-faced Saki Monkey

Golden Lion Tamarin

Golden Lion Tamarin Close-up

Emperor Tamarin

Owl or Night Monkey

Owl or Night Monkey Family

The owl monkeys are rain forest monkeys that have a bit of an owlish face that always seems to be smiling. They have many different vocalizations, up to 50 or more, including a piercing alarm shriek. They are night eaters, usually in pairs, they go browsing and foraging, eating fruit, leaves, and insects in the dark forest. In the daytime they sleep together in small family groups within hallowed-out trees.

Howler Monkey

Who is the loudest monkey in all the jungle? That's right, the Howler isn't called that for nothing. Their howl can be heard from 3-4 miles (4-6.5 km) away and perhaps even 10. They are also the largest types of monkeys found in the Americas standing up to 2 feet (0.6 m) tall.

Old World

Spectacled Langur

These Langurs are leaf eaters and are also known as the Dusky Leaf Monkey. They are not aggresive although they are territorial and stay in troops with a male leader and many females. They prefer trees and daylight and have good hearing and vision.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys

These are some colorful Asian animals. They live very high in the trees in secluded densely forested areas, sometimes in very large groups. The fur on their backs can grow to be fairly long. A few specimens of a new species were recently found in a remote part of Myanmar. They are very photogenic be sure to check out their page here: snub-nosed monkeys

Patas Monkey

The patas monkey is slender with long arms and legs, better suited to walking and running than to moving in the trees. They are very fast on the ground moving up to 55 kph or 34 mph. They do prefer to sleep in trees and will each sleep in their own separate tree. They live in Central Africa and the males have blue scrotums.

Colobus Monkey

The Colobus is born white and turns black (with white coloring) while still very young. They have no thumbs and prefer treetops and tender leaves in Eastern Africa.

Red Colobus Monkey

The Red Colobus also eats mostly leaves. They can eat from more than 60 different kinds of plants. Sometimes they can share trees with other monkeys since their diet does not overlap with that of the other monkeys.

Mother and Baby Colobus Guerezas

Drill

The Drill is an endangered primate. In the equatorial region of Africa the drill is known as "bushmeat" and eaten. Their habitat has also been largely destroyed. Drills move on the ground and in the lower levels of trees and eat mostly fruit.

DeBrazzas Monkey

DeBrazza's monkeys employ a variety of gestures to communicate with each other. These include staring, staring with mouth open, head-bobbing, the fearful grimace, yawning and head-shaking. These gestures have to do with displays of aggression or appeasement.

Douc Langur Monkey

Mandrill

Roloway Monkey

Apes (not really monkeys)

Baby Orangutan

See more about Orangutans

Chimpanzee

Gibbon

The Gibbon (13 species) - fast, agile, vocal and social, they are closer to monkeys than the great apes.

Gibbon Close-up

All together, the primate group (order) has a much wider scope of mammals from the tiny shrew to the enormous gorilla. Some of these species are certainly among the most intelligent animals and then there are some that are not as intelligent.

Man has always been fascinated with monkeys. They were perhaps the first animals painted on cave walls and depicted in rock art. In Egypt, India, China, Southeast Asia, Greece, and the Americas, ancient civilizations depicted the monkeys and interpreted them in many symbolic ways. Why? Because they can be very fascinating creatures to watch - lively, charismatic, and curious and perhaps because we see the resemblance to ourselves.

See the taxonomy tree (species list and categories) of all kinds of monkeys or also why not to buy a monkey.

Or if you have seen enough monkeys how about other mammal facts or types of snakes or lizards.

Photo search for "Lophocebus" on Flickr.com: