There are 160 species of monkeys on the planet. From the real giants – two-meter gorillas – to the crumbs: dwarf gambling is no more than 15 cm tall. Monkeys closely monitor their own appearance and spend a fifth of the day for “cosmetic procedures.” And they take care not specifically for themselves, but after each other.
And yet these animals really like to admire their own reflection in the mirror. Males take the same active participation in the rearing of offspring, like females. And, unlike many of their relatives, the kind of “reasonable person”, do not consider this shameful or “unworthy of a real man”. It is customary to think that their main house is a tree. Not entirely true, although these anthropic people do live and spend a lot of time on their own.
Representatives of macaques, chimpanzees and lemurs desperately descend to the ground. Exceptionally terrestrial monkeys – hamadryl and baboon. But gibbons, howlers and saamiri can really be found only on the crowns of trees. Representatives such as orangutans slizheat on the ground under the cover of darkness, to get a good night’s sleep. But only in the event that they do not find a suitable place in the trees. The gorilla family is a typical example of polygamy. The male lives at once with several females, which bring him offspring. In addition to sexual characteristics, the father of the family can be distinguished by the size (females are half as many), and also by the characteristic white wool on the back. A monkey can often be seen yawning.
But this does not mean that the animal is tired and wants to sleep. On the contrary: it is aggressive and ready to rush into battle. If a yawn is addressed to you, it’s better to retire. Chimpanzees are known to us as eating fruits. Indeed, fruits are the main food in their diet. But if it is not there, monkeys can eat a caught insect and even a smaller congenital. For example, these hunters hit the primates of galago by the likeness of spears, twigs, which they sharpen with their teeth. Scientists note that chimpanzees like any other monkeys have a sense of beauty.
For example, these animals can enchantingly watch the sunset. Baboons for the elongated form of the muzzle were called “dog monkeys.” They are very comfortable on the ground and only in case of extreme danger hide themselves on trees or rocks. Male baboons are real fighters, who are even feared by especially fanged predators: for example, leopards. The monkey-howler was named so because of the terrifying scream she emits. The reason for such loud and unpleasant sounds is in the arrangement of her throat. The enlarged throat bones form a hollow sound chamber that serves as a resonator.
The roar of the monkey is so loud that it can be heard for three kilometers. Monkeys of the New and Old World differ in the number of teeth. The first grows 28, the second, as a man, 32. Males of primates, like their human relatives, have hair loss. Most monkeys are thermophilic, except for the rhesus monkey living in the Himalayas and the Japanese monkey. The latter wears such a warm coat that it easily survives even the harshest on the islands of winter.
The desire for mating is not related to seasonality. They get offspring all year round. Macaques have excellent learning abilities. In one experiment, conducted by Japanese scientists, monkeys living by the river left on the shore dirty tubers of sweet potato. Animals first cleaned the dirt with their hands, but then learned to wash the vegetables in the water. At Stanford University there is a learned gorilla named Koko. She understands the sign language and the meaning of about 2000 words of English. A monkey can talk about his feelings and even quite successfully jokes. After Coco was subjected to a test on IQ, it turned out that her intellect is quite consistent with the level of the average American.
