Monkeys come in a lot of different sizes
and colors. Some are small enough to fit in the palm of your
hand while others are bigger than a large dog.
Colors
Monkeys are brown, black, red, white, and
many other colors and combinations. For instance,
green
monkeys are brownish-gray in
color with specks of yellow and olive green. And, just like its
name suggests, the black and white
colobus
monkey is black and white.
The mandrill has a brilliantly colored red and blue face.
Funny
Faces
There are a lot of other monkeys with
interesting faces. The uacari has no fur on his head at all and
his face is bright red. The healthier a uacari is, the brighter
is his face! Two kinds of guenons
(say GWEN-un) have very different faces which tells how they got
their names. The puffy-nosed guenon has a white nose while the
mustached guenon has a white mustache. Capuchins and squirrel monkeys
both look like they have a white mask around their face.
Hands
In many ways monkeys hands are just like
ours. Monkeys have fingernails and fingerprints and most have
opposable (say a-PO-za-bul) thumbs. Opposable thumbs make hands
really good for holding onto things and picking things
up. A fancy word for this is prehensile (say pre-HEN-sil)
and this is a good word to also describe some monkeys'
tails.
Tails
Certain monkeys have tails that are so
special they can be used almost like an extra hand for grasping and
climbing. The underside of the tip of a prehensile tail has no
fur making it an even better grabber. All of the monkeys that
have these special prehensile tails are New World monkeys. But
the Old World monkeys have not been left out. They have special
bare pads on their rumps that make it more comfortable for the
monkeys to sit for a long time. The scientific name for these
rump pads is ischial callosities.
Fun Facts
One
of the world's smallest monkeys is the pygmy
marmoset which lives in South
America. It is usually about 6 inches long, not counting its tail,
and weighs only a little more than 2 ounces! The largest monkey is
the mandrill. An adult male mandrill can weigh up to 100
pounds!
The
golden
lion tamarin got its name because
the fur around its head looks like a lion's mane.
The
proboscis
monkey has a very long nose,
though this doesn't help him to smell any better than other
monkeys.
Monkey Jokes | Parent/Teacher Resources
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