Top 10 Most Amazing Facts About Monkeys
Monkeys are some of the most fascinating creatures in the world. They’re often seen in zoos and are referenced in pop culture as iconic characters like Curious George.
They also have a pretty high IQ and can even solve basic puzzles! They can also identify their own reflection in a mirror, which is a trait that not many animals exhibit.
1. They Can Learn Language
All monkeys are primates, and while they cannot learn English like us, some have been taught simple signs to communicate with humans. One famous example is a gorilla named Koko, who learned to sign and even discussed complex concepts with her handlers.
Some monkeys are extremely intelligent, and they have been shown to be able to comprehend higher levels of language structure such as grammar and syntax. An experiment with baboons showed that they could learn context-free grammatical structures, which are structured according to the mirror principle or repetition, such as AB/BA or ABC/CBA.
Some monkey species are known for their intelligence and skill with tools, such as capuchins, who use rocks to crack open nuts. They can even adjust the size of their tool depending on what kind of nut they need to crack open!
2. They Can See In Color
In order to add color to a monkey’s vision, scientists needed to modify their genes. A gene is a blueprint that directs the body how to build proteins. The researchers added a gene that made the monkey’s eyes detect red light.
The monkeys had no trouble seeing red, but they did not see blue and green. This is because they lack the gene for those colors. The gene for these colors is located on the X chromosome, which only men have. Women have two X chromosomes, so they can usually inherit both.
Some monkeys are nocturnal, and they can see in the dark because of their large eyes. Nocturnal monkeys are also known to use scents to communicate with one another. Howler monkeys’ calls can be heard from miles away. They are the loudest animals on Earth!
3. They Can See In The Dark
Monkeys don’t have the ability to see in the dark like humans do. This is because they lack a reflective tissue in their eyes called tapetum lucidum. However, they do have large eyes that allow them to catch grey-scale images by perceiving the light.
Monkeys can also communicate with one another by making various noises. They use these sounds to warn each other of danger, call a mate or even play with their young. And the sounds made by howler monkeys are the loudest of any land animal – their calls can be heard for miles!
Monkeys are omnivorous and eat seeds, flowers, fruit, leaves, nuts and small insects, including spiders. They live in groups called troops and travel together to search for food. They also have opposable thumbs which allow them to hold onto things, such as tree branches.
4. They Can Run As Fast As A Racehorse
Monkeys are often portrayed as cheeky, goofy and daring animals but they also have an impressive set of skills. They are the fastest mammals on land and can even run as fast as a racehorse!
Their long limbs and prehensile tails make monkeys incredibly acrobatic. For example, spider monkeys can swing 30 feet from one tree to another and the Common Patas Monkey is able to move on all fours at speeds of up to 34 miles per hour!
Monkeys can also communicate a lot with their bodies. They use facial expressions, postures and gestures to express emotions such as anger, sadness or fear. They also talk to each other by making noises like chants, screams or alarm calls that can be heard from over 3 miles away! The howler monkey can even make a sound that sounds like thunder.
5. They Can Stick Their Fingers Up Other Monkeys’ Noses
Monkeys live on the ground and in the trees and are social omnivores that share food, shelter, and a nest with other members of their troop. They are also known for their acrobatic leaping skills.
They fill their cheek pouches with flowers, fruits, leaves, seeds, insects, birds’ eggs, and even small mammals, then chew them up in their chambered stomachs for digestion. Some monkeys, like colobus and langurs, are primarily tree-dwellers, while others, such as baboons and geladas, prefer savannas and rocky hillsides.
Because of their prehensile tails and flexible bodies, monkeys can move around the canopy of the forest with ease. Some species, such as spider monkeys and common patas monkeys, can travel on two legs and put human acrobats to shame with their long limbs! A rhesus macaque called Albert was sent into space before humans to test the effects of space travel on a living animal.
6. They Can Attend Monkey College
Monkeys can be trained to help humans with everyday tasks. At Boston-based Helping Hands Monkey College, monkeys are given a home and are taught to open doors, turn TVs on and off, fetch water bottles, wash dishes, open cans, pick up objects dropped off by a person and even answer a phone!
The fastest monkey is the Patas monkey, whose leaps of up to 30 feet allow it to travel quickly through the trees looking for food like seeds, flowers, leaves and fruit. It also helps it avoid predators, including hawks that can hunt young indri. Gelada baboons can use over 20 different vocal sounds to communicate with one another. Their calls can be heard from over a mile away. Monkeys are good at memorizing routes too, which comes in handy when traveling between locations. They even have opposable thumbs, so they can scratch their itches and turn pages of a book.
7. They Can Make A Slingshot
Monkeys have a very flexible body and limbs, which allows them to make amazing acrobatic moves. Some monkeys have tails that can be used to hold things or to grab onto trees. The female spider monkey can have a tail that is as long as her body! Patas monkeys can run up to 34 mph! They are the fastest monkeys in the world.
There are about 260 different species of monkeys in the world. They are split into two groups; Old World and New World monkeys. New World monkeys are found in Central America and South America while Old World monkeys are found in Asia and Africa.
Some Old World monkeys, like baboons and macaques, have thumbs that they can use to grasp objects. But many New World monkeys do not have thumbs. Some owl monkeys have thumbs too, but they are only found in Indonesia.
8. They Can Make Music
There are more than 260 different species of monkeys, and they’re usually split into Old World monkeys and New World monkeys. New World monkeys live in the Americas, while Old World monkeys live in Asia and Africa.
Monkeys communicate through various sounds, including chants, screams, grunts, and alarm calls. They also use body language to show their moods and emotions. They even use tools to crack open nuts!
Researchers found that monkeys respond to music the same way humans do. A George Winston album will soothe them, but Metallica won’t start a monkey mosh pit. Monkeys can also feel love and fear just like we do. They also use grooming rituals to express their emotions, and they’ll pick dirt and parasites out of each other’s fur. This social ritual helps strengthen their relationships. It’s pretty cute!
9. They Can Identify Their Own Reflection In A Mirror
Researchers have long been fascinated by monkeys’ natural ability to recognize themselves in a mirror. Until now, however, they’ve been unable to get monkeys to pass the standard mark test—applying an odorless red spot to a mirror-reflecting part of their body and seeing whether they notice it in a reflection.
To do this, researchers trained rhesus monkeys to touch a virtual red spot on a mirror-reflecting image of their face, which they would be rewarded with food for doing. After two to five weeks, the monkeys were able to touch their own mirror-reflective faces—and even smelled their fingers when they noticed the red mark on them.
Great apes, dolphins, and Asian elephants can also do this, but the monkeys’ success suggests that they have the “hardware” for self-recognition—it just takes some training to develop the software.
10. They Can Make Themselves Smaller
Monkeys are some of the most fascinating creatures in the animal kingdom. They have captivated human imaginations since the first Curious George book was published.
Monkeys have a wide variety of skills that help them survive in the wild, including jumping and climbing trees. They can even use a branch as a makeshift slingshot to get over tall fences.
Male monkeys have longer canines than females, which they sometimes display like fangs for mating purposes. They also have a unique ability to change their skin color to blend in with their surroundings.
Monkeys can identify their own reflections in a mirror, according to researchers at Kyoto University. The scientists marked each monkey with an odorless red, black, or green splotch, then put them in front of a full-length mirror. The monkeys looked in the mirror, pawed at their own marks, and sniffed their fingers to determine their identity.
