Monkeys may be among our closest relatives, but they’re still full of surprises
1. Mandrills have bright bottoms
Male mandrills are the largest and most colourful monkeys, with bright red and blue patches on their faces and pink, purple and blue patches on their rears. Charles Darwin wrote in his book The Descent of Man, “No other member in the whole class of mammals is coloured in so extraordinary a manner as the adult male mandrill’s”. The colours are more prominent in dominant males and get brighter when the monkeys are excited.
2. Geladas are never short of company
Geladas are highly social monkeys found in the Ethiopian Highlands. Males control harems containing up to 30 females, and many harems live together to form troops of up to 650 baboons. They’re able to survive in these huge groups because of their diet – they are the only primates that live primarily on grass.
3. Snow monkeys hit the spa in winter
The Japanese macaque is the primate with the most northerly territory. Also known as the snow monkey, it’s able to cope with temperatures as low as -15 degrees Celsius (five degrees Fahrenheit). Troops huddle together for warmth, and the population at Jigokudani Monkey Park has become famous for warming up by bathing in the hot springs.
4. It might look like a cheery smile, but when a monkey pulls back its lips and bobs its head it’s a sign of fear and aggression.
5. All monkeys have good eyesight, but Old World monkeys see in black and white while New World monkeys have colour vision.
6. The Myanmar snubnosed monkey’s nostrils are so wide and upturned that they fill with water when it rains, making the monkey sneeze.
7. Monkeys have shown the ability to count and understand written numbers. In some cases they can even comprehend basic arithmetic.
8. Monkeys make tools
Although it’s usually associated with apes, some species of monkey are able to use tools too. Black-striped capuchins have been observed cracking nuts on a rock by hitting them with another stone, and they will poke sticks into cracks in rocks to flush out invertebrates. Mandrills clean their ears and nails with twigs, and a troop of macaques in regular contact with people pull out human hair and use it as dental floss!
9. Monkeys went their separate ways
Monkeys are divided into Old World and New World, as the groups are thought to have divided around 40 million years ago. Old World monkeys live in Africa and Asia, are generally larger, have narrow nostrils and live both on the ground and in trees. New World monkeys occupy the Americas, spend almost all of their time in the trees and have upturned noses with round nostrils.
10. To avoid bloating in their stomachs from fermenting sugars, proboscis monkeys will only eat fruit that hasn’t ripened yet.
11. Spider monkeys use their tails like extra limbs
Th
