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Facts about Monkeys for Kids | Our Nearest Neighbours

There is nothing confidential about the fact that monkeys and humans have 98% similar DNA. The worlds at large recognize them and love their child like activities at zoos. So in order to get you acquainted with this mazing animals here are some facts about monkeys for kids that you will love to know and share with your friends and family. 

However, there are a few fascinating facts about this creature which we often choose not to emphasize upon. Let’s peep into the world of the most enchanting and entertaining organism of all species.

Facts about Monkeys for Kids

Meet the Ancestors

Monkey is a primate belonging to the suborder Haplorrhini. They are further divided into two groups usually as Old World monkey or a New World monkey, but does not include apes. About 260 known living species of monkey are discovered till date.

It’s curious to know that many species of monkey have indiscriminate parallel associations with humans. Some of us love to tame them as pets while on the other hand they are extremely helpful in laboratories and scientific studies.

How could Monkey swing?

A prehensile tail and eminently flexible limbs turns the monkey into a complete “trapeze artist” of the jungle.

They are good at acrobat and often play swinging on trees when they want to have some fun or move from one place to another to avoid danger on land of predators like tiger.

They are so good in this art that they rarely land on the forest floor and mostly exhibit arboreal voyage.

facts about monkeys for kidsWhat do Monkeys Eat – Let’s have bananas

Though the monkeys are mammals and so they are not so precise about their diet which mainly depends on where they dwell.

Their eating habits are not so different from us humans, i.e. they are omnivorous in nature. Preferentially they feed upon fruits, leaves, flowers, bird eggs and even small insects but the favourite fruit to dine is bananas.

Monkeys  the marvel of nature – More Facts about Monkeys for Kids

A greater number of monkeys, along with the sweet little chimpanzees are never too intense about being stroked. Despite the fact that the ones that have grown up in domesticated conditions could deal with being caressed, they would to some extent like to live in a population of and with other monkeys without being stroked or tamed by humans.

Monkeys are astonishingly strong, accounting the small spider monkeys. Unfortunately, individuals have been assassinated by “pet” chimpanzees that turned out of control for unknown reasons. That indicates, every monkey requires a trained person to handle because of their remarkable strength.

Few top predators of this primate list include eagles and humans too.

Monkeys are astonishingly loud creatures, especially if they are in the wild. The Howler Monkey is the noisiest of them, and that’s the sole reason behind its unique name. Their shriek can be heard from 100 mile distance as it is very penetrating to the ears.

Monkeys do not ever catch a cold which is an interesting asset for them.

 The smallest monkey is the Pygmy Marmoset; it simply cannot grow above six inches.

Monkeys that are categorized in the New World group arrive from South and Central America and they have flat noses which makes them easily recognizable. The monkeys that accounts in the Old World group are from Africa, and possess thinner noses.

We are quite familiar with the socializing nature of monkeys. They happen to live in families comprising of flocks of monkeys in the wild. They are called as “troops” and have a pyramidal structure.

Monkey Breeding is all about survival of species

You might have heard that the biotic potential of survival and evolution of specie primarily depends upon the process of reproduction.

Except the mating rituals monkeys do reproduce the same way as other mammals. The reproduction procedure is quite similar to that of humans.

Amazingly the females are dominant here and select the males with whom they want to mate and is able to give birth at 4-5 years of age. Whereas the time interval between two births could be 17 to 45 months.

Both male and female partners go for copulation after checking their readiness by sniffing. In the process of reproduction the gestation period ranges between 140 – 150 d (Black-mantled tamarin), 175 d (Mandrill) and 200-232 days in spider monkeys.

There is an esteem parental care provided by the mummy monkey to their young ones for 2 years.

Where are Monkeys found?

Monkeys are predominantly found in Africa and South America; they can also dwell in Indonesia, South America and parts of Asia.

They are more of a familiar site in the tropical rain forest.

It’s fun to be around monkeys

Incredibly monkeys are considered to be intelligent and bear social responsibilities. Apart from this they are even good at entertainment by copying our moves and enacting on training given.

Capuchin monkeys operate distinct vocal sounds to recognize a different breed of predators. They also have a unique character of banging stones in unison to give warning to each other about potential predators.

Capuchins are proficient tool users. They break nuts with rocks, insert branches into crevices to grab food, clear spines, and hairs from caterpillars by rubbing them together with a branch; they can protect their hands with leaves, and materialize huge branches to club snakes.

When a group of guenon monkeys gets their  new leader, the current alpha-male would occasionally kill all babies who are still being suckled which is an evolutionary conduct popularized as kin selection, where the male is supposed to protect his own descendant by killing the offspring of fellow males.

Save the Monkeys for the sake of ecology

It’s saddening that half the monkey species are cataloged as endangered ones.

Among which, 24 monkeys claims to be critically endangered, with an alarmingly high chance of soon being extinct from the canvas of forest or wildlife. The population of these species has dropped drastically as found in a latest research or are already severely low.

The reason behind monkeys being in danger of becoming extinct are the usual ones like habitat loss, poaching for the bush meat and traditional medicine business, live capture aspiring pet trade, and bringing of an alien species. All this destroys their living arena and intrudes with the harmony of nature.

But fortunately though a bit late but it’s only now that people from most parts of the world have realized the scarcity and have taken protective measures.

Share your encounter with this amazing animal in the comments below. Do you like these amazing facts about monkeys for kids, how about sharing them with your friends and family.

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