The Barbary macaque is also known as the Barbary ape.Īccording to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word 'monkey' may originate in a German version of the Reynard the Fox fable, published c. Monkeys, including apes, can be distinguished from other primates by having only two pectoral nipples, a pendulous penis, and a lack of sensory whiskers. Linnaeus placed this group in 1758 together with the tarsiers, in a single genus ' Simia' (sans Homo), an ensemble now recognised as the Haplorhini. That apes are monkeys was already realized by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in the 18th century. However, there has been resistance to directly designate apes (and thus humans) as monkeys, so 'Old World monkey' may be taken to mean either the Cercopithecoidea (not including apes) or the Catarrhini (including apes). The simians' sister group, the tarsiers, are also haplorhine primates however, they are also not monkeys.Īpes emerged within monkeys as sister of the Cercopithecidae in the Catarrhini, so cladistically they are monkeys as well. Lemurs, lorises, and galagos are not monkeys, but strepsirrhine primates (suborder Strepsirrhini). Extinct basal simians such as Aegyptopithecus or Parapithecus (35–32 million years ago) are also considered monkeys by primatologists. Old World monkeys and apes emerged within the catarrhine monkeys about 25 million years ago. New World monkeys and catarrhine monkeys emerged within the simians roughly 35 million years ago. Within suborder Haplorhini, the simians are a sister group to the tarsiers – the two members diverged some 70 million years ago. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent, especially the Old World monkeys. Most species are mainly active during the day ( diurnal).

Many monkey species are tree-dwelling ( arboreal), although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Apes are thus deep in the tree of extant and extinct monkeys, and any of the apes is distinctly closer related to the Cercopithecidae than the Platyrrhini are. Some nine million years before the divergence between the Cercopithecidae and the apes, the Platyrrhini emerged within 'monkeys' by migration to South America from Afro-Arabia (the Old World), likely by ocean. The extant sister of the Catarrhini in the monkey ('singes') group is the Platyrrhini (New World monkeys). In 1812, Geoffroy grouped the apes and the Cercopithecidae group of monkeys together and established the name Catarrhini, 'Old World monkeys', (' singes de l'Ancien Monde' in French).

Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomplete paraphyletic grouping however, in the broader sense based on cladistics, apes (Hominoidea) are also included, making the terms monkeys and simians synonyms in regards to their scope. Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Platyrrhini Cercopithecidae † ParapithecidaeĬladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa Bonnet macaque Macaca radiata Mangaon, Maharashtra, India

Cutebaby monkeys