Monkey

The monkey is a member of the order Primates. Like humans, monkeys can see in depth and in color and can grasp objects with hands and feet. They usually eat leaves, insects, fruits, and bird eggs.

New World monkeys, found from Mexico to South America, are smaller and lighter than Old World monkeys and have flat noses. The family Cebidae generally has a rounded head and thirty-six teeth. The legs are longer than the arms, and the limbs end in five digits. The family Callitrichidae are the New World's smallest monkeys. They have small, round heads and thirty-two teeth. The tail is longer than the head and body together.

Most species of the marmoset and tamarin families are threatened with extinction, due mainly to loss of habitat. Especially threatened are the golden lion tamarins of Brazil (Leontopithecus rosalia), fewer than five hundred of which are estimated to live in the wild.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baschieri Salvatori, Francesco. Rare Animals of the World. New York: Mallard Press, 1990.

Bates, Marston. The Land and Wildlife of South America. New York: Time Inc., 1964.

Boitani, Luigi, and Stefania Bartoli. Simon and Schuster's Guide to Mammals, trans. Simon Pleasance, pp. 95-105. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.

Patzelt, Erwin. Fauna del Ecuador. Quito: Banco Central del Ecuador, 1989.

Kay, Richard F., Blythe A. Williams, and Federico Anaya. "The Adaptations of Branisella boliviana, the Earliest South American Monkey." In Reconstructing Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record, ed. J. Michael Plavcan et al., pp. 339-370. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum 2002.

                                         RaÚl CucalÓn