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A monkey is a non-human primate of the Haplorrhini suborder and simian infraorder, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey, but sometimes excluding non-human hominoids.
There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys usually have tails. Tailless monkeys may be called "apes", incorrectly according to modern usage; thus the tailless Barbary macaque is called the "Barbary ape". The New World monkeys are classified within the parvorder of Platyrrhini, whereas the Old World monkeys form part of the parvorder Catarrhini, which also includes the hominoids . Thus, as Old World monkeys are more closely related to hominoids than they are to New World monkeys, the monkeys are not a unitary group.
Historical and modern terminology
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word "monkey" may originate in a German version of the Reynard the Fox fable, published circa 1580. In this version of the fable, a character named Moneke is the son of Martin the Ape. In English, no very clear distinction was originally made between "ape" and "monkey"; thus the 1910 Encyclopædia Britannica entry for "ape" notes that it is either a synonym for "monkey" or is used to mean a tailless humanlike primate. Such ambiguities persist. Colloquially, the terms "monkeys" and "apes" may still be used interchangeably. Also, a few monkey species have the word "ape" in their common name, such as the Barbary ape.
Later in the first half of the 20th century, the idea developed that there were trends in primate evolution and that the living members of the order could be arranged in a series, leading through "monkeys" and "apes" to humans. Monkeys thus constituted a "grade" on the path to humans and were distinguished from "apes". Scientific classifications are now more often based on monophyletic groups, that is groups consisting of all the descendants of a common ancestor. The New World monkeys and the Old World monkeys are each monophyletic groups, but their combination is not, since it excludes hominoids . Thus the term "monkey" no longer refers to a recognized scientific taxon. The smallest accepted taxon which contains all the monkeys is the infraorder Simiiformes, or simians. However this also contains the hominoids, so that monkeys are, in terms of currently recognized taxa, non-hominoid simians. A group of monkeys may be commonly referred to as a tribe or a troop.
Physical description
Monkeys range in size from the pygmy marmoset, which can be as small as with a tail and just over in weight, to the male mandrill, almost long and weighing up to . Some are arboreal while others live on the savanna; diets differ among the various species but may contain any of the following: fruit, leaves, seeds, nuts, flowers, eggs and small animals . Some characteristics are shared among the groups; most New World monkeys have prehensile tails while Old World monkeys have non-prehensile tails or no visible tail at all. Old World monkeys have trichromatic color vision like that of humans, while New World monkeys may be trichromatic, dichromatic, or—as in the owl monkeys and greater galagos—monochromatic. Although both the New and Old World monkeys, like the apes, have forward-facing eyes, the faces of Old World and New World monkeys look very different, though again, each group shares some features such as the types of noses, cheeks and rumps. This can have important implications for the conservation of endangered species, which may be subject to persecution. In some instances farmers' perceptions of the damage may exceed the actual damage. Monkeys that have become habituated to human presence in tourist locations may also be considered pests, attacking tourists. In religion and culture, the monkey often represents quick-wittedness and mischief.
As service animals for the disabled
Some organizations train capuchin monkeys as service animals to assist quadriplegics and other people with severe spinal cord injuries or mobility impairments. After being socialized in a human home as infants, the monkeys undergo extensive training before being placed with a disabled person. Around the house, the monkeys assist with feeding, fetching, manipulating objects, and personal care. In experiments The most common monkey species found in animal research are the grivet, the rhesus macaque, and the crab-eating macaque, which are either wild-caught or purpose-bred. They are used primarily because of their relative ease of handling, their fast reproductive cycle and their psychological and physical similarity to humans. Worldwide, it is thought that between 100,000 and 200,000 non-human primates are used in research each year, This number makes a very small fraction of all animals used in research.
As food
Monkey brains are eaten as a delicacy in parts of South Asia, Africa and China. In traditional Islamic dietary laws, the eating of monkeys is forbidden. However, monkeys are sometimes eaten in parts of Africa, where they can be sold as "bushmeat". Literature Sun Wukong, a character who figures prominently in Chinese mythology, is the main protagonist in the classic comic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Monkeys are prevalent in numerous books, television programs, and movies. The television series Monkey and the literary characters Monsieur Eek and Curious George are all examples. Informally, the term "monkey" is often used more broadly than in scientific use, and may be used to refer to apes, particularly chimpanzees, gibbons, and gorillas. Author Terry Pratchett alludes to this difference in usage in his Discworld novels, in which the Librarian of the Unseen University is an orangutan who gets very violent if referred to as a monkey. Another example is the use of Simians in Chinese poetry. The Winged monkeys are prominent characters in The Wizard of Oz.
Religion and worship
Hanuman, a prominent divine entity in Hinduism, is a Human-like monkey god. He bestows courage, strength and longevity to the person who thinks about him or the god Rama. In Buddhism, the monkey is an early incarnation of Buddha but may also represent trickery and ugliness. The Chinese Buddhist "mind monkey" metaphor refers to the unsettled, restless state of human mind. Monkey is also one of the Three Senseless Creatures, symbolizing greed, with the tiger representing anger and the deer lovesickness. The Mizaru, or three wise monkeys, are revered in Japanese folklore, together they embody the proverbial principle to "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped nature. They placed emphasis on animals and often depicted monkeys in their art. The Tzeltal people of Mexico worshipped monkeys as incarnations of their dead ancestors. Zodiac The Monkey is the ninth in the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.