Broad-nosed monkeys names. Meaning "broad-nosed monkeys." Anthropological Explanatory Dictionary

In the early Tertiary period, in the Eocene, monkeys lived in Europe and North America. Then the climate there was more suitable for them. Now they inhabit only the Central and South America, Africa and South Asia.

The apes, now separated by oceans, have much in common. All have round, human-type ears. Bare or slightly hairy face. The skull is relatively large, even compared to lemurs. For example, the pygmy galago and the clawed monkey are equally small, but the brain of the former is almost three times smaller!

And these famous lines of “life”, “heart” and “mind”, the hillocks of “Jupiter”, “Mercury”, “Apollo”, the plains of “Mars” and other “mystical” signs on the palms of the hands, from the design of which palmists predict fate, wealth and other things! If they are right, then it means that every monkey is destined by fate to have the same successes and failures in life. After all, their hairless palms and soles of their feet are lined with the same purely individual pattern of lines and furrows as those of humans. So individual and unique that in monkeys, like in humans, forensic examination can take fingerprints.

Moreover, even the bare grasping and tactile “soles” from below at the end of the tail are striated in the same way.

Having talked about grabbing tails, we come to those morphological points that separate the monkeys of the Old and New Worlds. For only American monkeys have tails, transformed by evolution into a fifth hand. But not all: four genera and about 14 species - howler monkeys, arachnids and woolly monkeys. Capuchin monkeys can also grab various objects with their tails, pull them towards them or drag them behind them (for example, a bowl of food!). But capuchins do not have a bare “sole” from below at the end of the tail.

Among the Old World monkeys, only young gwenons and adult mangabeys can hang with their tails wrapped around a branch.

Many zoologists call American monkeys broad-nosed, and Old World monkeys - narrow-nosed. In the first, the nostrils are separated by a wide partition and look slightly to the sides. For the second - nasal septum narrow, nostrils close together and directed forward. But this division is not clear enough, because there are species with an intermediate structure of the nostrils: for example, durukuli is a broad-nosed monkey according to zoological rank, but nevertheless a narrow-nosed one, and gibbons are quite broad-nosed.

American monkeys never have the ischial calluses that so disgrace the rear areas of baboons, monkeys, macaques and gibbons. They also do not have cheek pouches, which are well developed in baboons, monkeys, macaques and underdeveloped in thin-bodied monkeys.

American monkeys are primarily vegetarians, but eat insects and small vertebrates. Howler monkeys are exclusively leaf beetles. And in this they are reminiscent of the Kolob monkeys of the Old World, and among lemurs - the indri.

The thumbs on the hands, but not on the toes, of American monkeys (with the exception of a few species, such as saki and uakari) are not able to protrude as widely as those of Old World monkeys, opposing themselves to other fingers and forming firmly grasping “pincers”.

Broad-nosed monkeys, except for the clawed ones, they are more toothy. They have 36 teeth, while the narrow-nosed ones have 32 teeth. For the first, pregnancy is six months, and for the second, six to eight; for apes, 230-290 days.

The superfamily of broad-nosed monkeys has two families: Capuchinidae (with six subfamilies):

mirikins and titi - 9 species,

saki and uakari - 7 types,

howler monkeys - 6 species,

capuchins and saimiri - 6 species,

koats and woolly monkeys - 8 species,

jumping tamarins - 1 species;

clawed, or marmoset, monkeys (marmosets, marmosets, tamarins) - 33 species.

Mirikina, or durukuli, is the only monkey in the world that has likened its lifestyle to that of an owl: at night it terrorizes sleepy birds, frogs, lizards, spiders, and insects. It eats fruits and sucks nectar. She sees excellently in the dark, and her night attacks are so unmistakable that she even grabs flying insects in an acrobatic leap.

Myrikins hunt in pairs, a male and a female, and sleep together during the day. At night and especially in the morning twilight, the jungles of the Amazon and Orinoco resound with the discordant concerts of the Mirikin. You can hear a dog barking, a cat meowing, even the roar of a jaguar, and sometimes quiet, melodious chirping and chirping. Researchers counted more than fifty sounds of different tones and characters in the voice of these monkeys, the acoustic power of which is not at all proportional to the strength and height of the animal: the weight of the durukuli is 500-1000 grams, the length without a tail is 24-37 centimeters.

The reason is in the resonators - the expanded trachea and the air sac under the durukuli's chin. In addition, the monkey purses its lips into a mouthpiece when it screams.

Relatives of the durukuli - titi monkeys scream just as loudly in the morning.

Titi - four, eight or even ten species, according to various authorities. How many in reality is difficult to establish, since the South American forests are still poorly explored, and the intraspecific variability of many monkeys is too great. The titi's nails are elongated in a claw-like manner, like those of clawed monkeys, but all other features and lifestyle (but diurnal) are like those of the durukuli.

Titi has an interesting way of guarding its prey: it sits across the branch, legs and arms tucked together, and its long tail lowered down. From this seemingly inconvenient position for an attack, a lightning-fast throw grabs running or flying prey.

Sakis are inhabitants of damp, large-trunked forests in the interior regions of South America. Many of the places where they live are for a long time The flooded great rivers of the Amazon are flooding. But monkeys don’t like dampness. Therefore, most of their living space is limited to the tops of the forest. And so life forced them to learn to jump so far and deftly, which not every monkey can do. But if they happen to descend to the ground, and they always descend with their tails first, carefully and without undue haste, then sakis usually walk on their hind legs, balancing with their front legs, which they lift up.

Zoos have noticed that sakis love to rub their fur with pieces of lemon. And they drink like this: they dip their hand in water and then lick it.

Uakari are from the same subfamily as saki. These are the shortest-tailed American monkeys. Only the large uakari, of which there are three species, has a tail longer than one third of the body. For others it is 9-15 centimeters. Uakari and the most “human-like” of all American monkeys. With their sad, lost expression on their naked, apoplectic-red face and bald forehead, they resemble a hypochondriac who has grown old early and has lost all hope.

However, the character of the uakari is lively and cheerful. Appearance, as often happens, is misleading here too. They are not at all apathetic, they often become enraged and then vigorously and strongly shake the branch on which they are sitting, and threateningly, loudly smack their lips.

Even the thunderous roar of a lion is not as loud as the cry of a howler monkey - although the largest monkey in America, it is relatively small. The length of her body without a tail is a meter, and her weight is, at best, 8 kilograms. Usually the oldest male “sings”, then the second in rank. Then suddenly the whole flock begins to emit such screams that even if you cover your ears, you risk going deaf. The nearest flock immediately echoes the neighbors, and the wild concert sometimes sounds for hours. In it one can hear the roar of a lion, the roar of a tiger, the cries of “a-hyu, a-hyu,” and up to eight other less loud vocal “phrases.” Howler monkeys usually scream in the mornings and evenings, as well as during the day and even at night, since they often do not sleep at night.

In the thick of the forest, the screams of howler monkeys can be heard two kilometers away, and in the open, even five kilometers away!

Of course, they have powerful vocal cords, but this is not enough; they also need a megaphone and a resonator. The mouthpiece is the flexible lips of monkeys, which howler monkeys fold into a funnel. Here's a megaphone for you. And the resonator is a swollen, hollow... hyoid bone: a completely unusual model among all the resonators invented by nature over millions of years.

Different species of howler monkeys live from southern Mexico to Paraguay. Coat color varies greatly, but usually three types predominate: black, yellowish-brown and bright red. The tenacious tail is so strong that a howler, having grabbed a branch with it, can jump to the nearest branch without the help of arms and legs.

They don’t like to jump, but run and climb branches, but so quickly that a person chasing them on the ground will not keep up and will lag behind.

One young howler monkey, who lived with the man who raised him, was very fond of carrots. It was funny to see what he did when he was shown various botanical books with illustrations. He ignored many vegetables and fruits that were unappetizing, in his opinion, but as soon as he saw a carrot, he immediately tried to snatch it from the book with his hand. This, naturally, did not succeed, then he reached out to her with his mouth. He licked the drawing and apparently found some satisfaction in this.

"Of all the American monkeys, capuchins resemble Old World monkeys in appearance and behavior. They do not have special formations, such as the huge eyes of night monkeys, the shaggy coat of the saki, the claws of tamarins, the excessively long limbs of spider monkeys and the bare grasping "sole" at the end of the tail or the powerful scream-amplifying devices of howler monkeys.Capuchins are to a certain extent “completely normal monkeys in the average understanding of the word” (Dietrich Heinemann).

Capuchins are the most “intelligent” of the American monkeys, which in this sense are very inferior to the Old World monkeys. Capuchins live, there are four species of them, from Honduras to Northern Argentina.

Not all even apes can, like capuchins, take a stone in their hand and crack nuts with it. Capuchins have an innate habit of hitting everything with hard objects. If there are no hard nuts at hand, they hit the bars and glass of the enclosure with stones.

Capuchins, like pangolins and many birds, rub their fur with ants and, like a hedgehog, lubricate it with saliva. They are attracted to odorous substances. They rub themselves diligently with onions, oranges, lemons and even cologne, if they can get their hands on it.

A little like the hoods of Capuchin monks, the hair on the head of some species of Capuchins puffs up, forming “hairstyles” in the form of crests, caps, horns and combs. Capuchins with a "coiffure" are usually brown, without any bright spots. Without "hair" - with white trim around the muzzle or on the shoulders, throat and top of the arms, for example the Steller's capuchin. However, the coloration of different subspecies, races, and ages is highly variable, which often puts taxonomists in great difficulty.

Capuchins avoid long journeys: the territory of the flock is limited to only a few hundred meters and is heavily “perfumed” with marking odors. Having arrived at a place rich in fruits or insects, members of the flock often scatter in all directions and quite far away. But they do not lose sound contact with each other, constantly shouting clear signals and messages to them alone. During the day it is time to rest, and then they get together again. The old ones doze, but the young people usually have fun and jump around, so the elders often have to shout loudly to order them.

Of the New World monkeys, the Saimiri are the closest to the capuchins.

They are brightly colored. The saimiri squirrel has a face white drawing, somewhat similar to that creepy image of a skull that we often see on power poles and other places where warning about mortal danger. That’s why this monkey is sometimes called “dead-headed.”

Dense forests along the banks of rivers are the favorite places for the Saymiri to settle. Like capuchins, they rarely walk on the ground. Like capuchins, they rub themselves with odorous juices and, before eating any fruit, crush it, crush it, pressing it between the leaves, or beat it with their tail. Saymiri is ready for various inventions, fun, and games. They are playful and very curious.

“Cheerful, overwhelmed, talkative kids suddenly burst into the tents, opened all the drawers and boxes, turned over every item, slipped into the kitchen, pulled out freshly baked bread from the still hot mold. Although five men tried to drive them away with brooms and other harmless weapons, they stole everything edible . They were not afraid. They did not pay attention to people, of course, only because they did not yet know bipeds" (Ivan Sanderson).

So the Saymiri plundered the explorer’s camp. These monkeys do not walk alone, always in dozens, hundreds. Sanderson once counted 550 saimiri in Guiana, who, one after another in an endless row, galloped through a narrow clearing of the forest.

The cry of the saimiri sounds almost like a flute. But when the whole flock quarrels, especially in the evenings over the central places in the trees where they sleep (no one wants to stay on the edge!), they make such a noise that from a distance it seems as if surf waves are splashing on the shore.

Males of saimiri have a strange and, in our opinion, obscene manner of threatening the enemy: they, rising on their feet, flaunt what people, even in paintings, usually hide even under a fig leaf.

Saimiris are similar in many ways to capuchins. They also lubricate themselves with urine, but they prefer to “scent” not their hands, but their body, and especially the end of their tail, which for this reason is always wet. Like capuchins, they have attracted the interest of animal psychologists. But it’s difficult to keep them in captivity (capuchins tolerate it easily).

The brain of the Saimiri is relatively even larger than that of the Capuchins. These are the most “brainy” of the primates and, perhaps, of all living beings, including humans. The weight of their brain is 1/17 of the weight of a monkey, in humans it is only 1/35!

“The monkeys made a living bridge... one hung its tail down from a branch and wrapped it around the head of the other, and in the same way five subsequent monkeys formed a hanging chain. Then they swung this chain back and forth until the lower monkey, thrown, as on a swing, over forest clearing to another tree, did not grab onto it. Other monkeys, including two females with babies on their necks, walked across the bridge. Then the first monkey, who made up the bridge, let go of the branches, the living chain rushed through the gap to the new tree. There, uncoupled, the monkeys followed their previous course. It took them less time to describe everything than it took me to describe it" (Karl Lovelace).

For a long time now, since the time of Aristotle, people have been telling stories about monkey bridges that are so improbable, as was believed and still are believed.

"Dead-headed" saimiri is an amazing monkey! Not even a strange pattern on the face, which leads to some gloomy comparisons, not a tail, which, although of the wrong type, is nevertheless capable of wrapping around branches, but a phenomenon more mysterious to science. In one troop, in one family, these monkeys sometimes give birth to giant males along with ordinary little ones: they are twice as large as their brothers, and weigh many times more. Males are fertile, but their offspring are small and ordinary. A similar phenomenon has also been observed in some shrews.

Most likely, if this is at all possible, spider monkeys, or koats, build living bridges.

Arachnids! Often black, although there are also gray, brown, and the Panamanian is red, the legs and arms are thin and long, the body is skinny, disproportionate to the length of the “spider” limbs and especially the tail, which is relatively longer than that of any monkey in general. He is so strong and tenacious that he can easily hold and, after swinging, throw the almost half-pound monkey from branch to branch.

"Dead-headed" saimiri

The koata's tail is literally a fifth hand. While begging for and accepting a treat at the zoo, it is Oma who extends it, not his hand, from behind bars.

Grabbing the handle, they open the doors with their tail. When asking to return to the house, they press the bell button with their tail! These are manual.

What about the wild ones? Wild ones, seeing a person, a jaguar or another enemy from a tree, tear heavier branches with their tail (and hands too) and throw them down. Such “bombs” sometimes weigh five kilograms!

Four species of coats in the genus Ateles are found from southern Mexico to Paraguay. There are two more genera and four species of so-called woolly monkeys closely related to coatats - mainly in the Amazon. They are similar in many ways to koats, but they are not as agile in jumping, and their prehensile tail is not so agile in various tricks. They have thick, dense fur, rich in undercoat. Coats have coarse fur, without undercoat.

In 1904, the director of a museum in Belem (Brazil) received a strange-looking small black monkey as a gift. When she died, her skin was sent to the British Museum. So it was opened the new kind monkeys - jumping tamarin. But since the skin was sent to London without a skull, British experts first included the jumping tamarin in the same family with the clawed, or marmoset, monkeys. Only in 1911 and 1914, a couple more of these monkeys were brought by ship from the upper reaches of the Amazon to the port city of Belem. Miranda Ribeiro studied them there and proved that if you decide the issue of family ties jumping tamarins only by their skin (and claws on their fingers!), then they are really close to clawed monkeys. But, having examined the skull and teeth, Miranda Ribeiro found in them many features common to monkeys from the capuchin family. Jumping tamarins are an intermediate form, a link between both.

Previously, before the discovery of jumping tamarins, the prevailing opinion in zoology was that marmosets were the oldest of the monkeys not only in America, but throughout the whole world. Now that a connecting link has been found, the question has been resolved differently: clawed monkeys are only a lateral specialized branch of broad-nosed monkeys, and the branch is rather young than ancient.

Specialized, that is, adapted to life in the heart of the “forest of forests” - the Amazonian jungle. In the foliage of giant trees entwined with vines, overgrown with orchids, in dampness, in twilight, among an abundance of ants, spiders, ripening all year round fruits and nuts they found shelter and food for themselves. Clawed monkeys almost never descend to the ground.

They are tiny - the size of a rat, a squirrel, rarely larger. A midget among monkeys, the dwarf clawed monkey Chichiko weighs only 85 grams! She's a little bigger mouse lemur. Many have a very funny appearance: some have long “gray” mustaches, like Kaiser Wilhelm, others have hairstyles, like Babette, who went to war, many have manes on their necks and shoulders, and ears with a lush rim of long white hair. Frill, and that’s all, but not on the neck, but on the ears. The color is bright, multi-colored. The fur is soft and silky. And everyone only has 32 teeth! Like "old world" monkeys.

Those with lower canines equal to or slightly larger than the incisors are usually called marmosets. In tamarins, on the contrary, the lower canines are much longer than the incisors.

Monkeys are playful, beautiful and, so to speak, extravagant. Even the ruthless conquistadors fell in love with these “monkeys.” Silky monkeys were brought to Europe a long time ago. Ladies high society, especially in the era of Madame Pompadour and the last Louis, having exchanged tame weasels, the fashion for which went away with the Renaissance, for clawed monkeys, they kept them in their salons, just like lapdogs and Siamese cats in our days.

Narrow-nosed monkeys, or monkeys of the Old World, differ from American ones not only in their thinner nasal septum (which, by the way, brings them closer to humans), in the smaller number of teeth (32, and not 36), and also in the fact that the tail is In some species it is underdeveloped, and even if it is long, it is unable to cling to branches when moving along trees.

Narrow-nosed monkeys are divided into two well-separated families - the apes and the apes.

The monkey family. This group includes monkeys, which we meet more often than others in cages and enclosures of zoos - slender and agile African monkeys(Fig. 484), replacing them in tropical countries ah Asian macaques, dog-headed baboons from the mountainous regions of Africa.

Monkeys move on the ground and along thick branches on four legs, resting on the surface with the palms of the hands and the entire sole of the hind legs (Fig. 485). On their body they have hairless ischial calluses, and in their mouth there are a pair of cheek pouches - a kind of internal pockets where monkeys put part of the food they get, without wasting time chewing it when moving.

The vast majority of monkeys live in forests and move around tree branches with great dexterity, but compared to American monkeys, they are less specialized tree climbers and are unable to cling to branches with their tails; some species, such as all dog-headed species, broke with the forest and became inhabitants of open mountainous areas, where they can climb rocks with great dexterity.

As a rule, all monkeys are inhabitants of tropical countries. However, among monkeys there are several species that live outside the tropical zone. The tailless monkey, or mago, lives in North-West Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia), as well as on the rocks of Gibraltar, that is, already in Europe (36° northern latitude).

The closest relative of this monkey, the Japanese mago, lives on the opposite edge of the eastern hemisphere and its distribution reaches 39° north latitude, where it has to endure winter frosts down to -12° C. Two species of monkeys, dressed in thick and long hair, are found in coniferous forests Tibet is a high extratropical highland with a harsh continental climate.

In addition to monkeys and macaques - small monkeys with more or less human-like physiognomies - in our zoos you can see monkeys of quite large sizes and less human-like - baboons and their relatives, united under common name dog-headed.

Most species of this peculiar group are inhabitants of rocky plateaus and rocky mountain slopes of tropical Africa. On the ground they move on all fours, only occasionally rising on their hind legs. Unlike monkeys, they are not associated with forest landscapes, but on occasion they climb trees and climb their branches with sufficient dexterity, although due to their terrestrial lifestyle, their fingers are shorter than those of natural tree climbers.

The name “dog-headed” is given to these monkeys because their facial part protrudes forward in the form of an elongated muzzle with fanged jaws, especially impressive in larger males.

With this structure, the massive head of baboons appears disproportionately large and heavy compared to their relatively short body, and the tails of some species are short (3–5 cm) stumps, while in others they somehow stick out awkwardly in the form of an arched, curved stick. Apparently, in these cases too, having lost any functional significance.

For the purpose of comparison, let us recall the appearance and habits of the natives of Africa - monkeys, with their super-acrobatic dexterity of movements and with their agile and expressive physiognomies. There is no doubt that next to them the dog-headed ones will seem both ugly “from the face” and somehow awkwardly formed.

However, as has already been noted more than once, we cannot impose our aesthetic demands on nature: the divergence of characteristics in the two groups of narrow-nosed monkeys was associated with their settlement in two different biotopes. Rocky uplands place different demands on their inhabitants than dense tropical forests. In particular, the greater bestiality of dog-headed animals is explained in the peculiarities of their living situation.

Forest monkeys have the opportunity to obtain complete plant food in the form of sugary and mealy fruits, which form the basis of their diet, while dog-headed monkeys living on rocky mountain slopes had to include meat in their diet, eating not only invertebrates, but also reptiles and small mammals down to baby antelopes.

Dog-headed animals also have to fight off terrestrial predators, and under such conditions their formidable fangs acquire an important protective value.

In the end adaptive features dog-headed animals (including the advantages associated with their gregarious lifestyle) brought them to a prominent place in the fauna of tropical Africa. The biological prosperity of this group is evidenced by the significant diversity of dog-headed species and their numbers.

Among the representatives of this group, special attention of zoo visitors is attracted by mandrills (Fig. 486), which the famous Vrem recognized as “the ugliest of all monkeys.” In their appearance, what is especially striking is the unusual for mammals bright colors of the hairless areas on their elongated muzzle, in the area of ​​the genitals and on the ischial tuberosities, where bright red and cornflower blue colors alternate (remember that monkeys, unlike the vast majority of other mammals have, like humans, color vision).

A family of great apes, or anthropomorphic monkeys. The highest group among monkeys are anthropomorphic monkeys, closest to humans. This includes the most large species- gorilla and chimpanzee living in African forests, orangutan - a large ape from the island of Borneo, and several forms of gibbons 2 from Indochina and borneo islands and Sumatra (Fig. 487). They have the same number of teeth as humans, and just like humans, they lack a tail. Mentally, they are more gifted than other monkeys, and the chimpanzee especially stands out in this regard.

Recently (1957), the bonobo ape was identified as a special genus - a form that until then was considered only a dwarf variety of chimpanzees.

All apes live in forests, easily climb trees and are very imperfectly adapted to move on the ground (Fig. 488). Unlike true quadrupeds and bipedal humans, they have an inverse relationship between the length of the limbs of the first and second pair: their legs are relatively short and weak, while the tenacious upper limbs are significantly elongated in length, especially in the most skilled tree climbers - gibbons and orangutans .

When walking, great apes rest on the ground not with the entire sole of their feet, but only with the outer edge of the foot; with such an unsteady gait, the animal needs the necessary help from its long arms, with which it either grabs tree branches or leans on the ground back side bent fingers, partially unloading the lower limbs.

Smaller gibbons, when descending from trees and walking across open ground, move on their hind legs, and with their unusually long arms they balance like a person walking on a narrow pole.

Thus, apes do not have the upright gait of humans, but they also do not walk on all fours in the manner that most other mammals do. Therefore, in their skeleton we find a combination of some features of a bipedal person with animal characteristics of four-legged mammals.

Due to the elevated position of the torso, the pelvis great apes closer in shape to the human, where it really lives up to its name and supports the abdominal innards from below (Fig. 489). In four-legged animals, the pelvis does not have to perform such a task, and its shape is different there - this is easy to see on the skeleton of a cat, dog and other four-legged mammals, including monkeys (see Fig. 485).

The tail of apes is underdeveloped, and its skeleton is represented in them, as in humans, only by a small rudiment - the coccygeal bone, which is closely fused to the pelvis.

On the contrary, the inclined position of the neck and the stronger development of the facial bones, pulling the skull forward, bring apes closer to four-legged animals. To support the head, strong muscles are required, and this is associated with the development of long spinous processes on the cervical vertebrae and bony ridges on the skull; both serve to attach muscles.

Large jaws also correspond to strong chewing muscles. They say that a gorilla is able to gnaw through a gun taken from a hunter with its teeth. For attachment of the chewing muscles of the gorilla and orangutan, there is also a longitudinal ridge on the crown. Due to the strong development of the facial bones and ridges on the skull, the cranium itself turns out to be more laterally compressed and less capacious than in humans, and this, of course, is reflected in both the size and development of the cerebral hemispheres (Fig. 490): a gorilla is almost is the same as a human, and its brain weighs three times less than a human (430 g for a gorilla and 1,350 g for a human).

All modern anthropoids are inhabitants tropical forests, but their adaptability to life among woody vegetation is not expressed to the same degree. Gibbons are natural tree climbers. Orangutans also constantly stay in the trees; there they make their nests, and their adaptability to climbing is clearly expressed in their structure long arms, whose hands, with four long fingers and a shortened thumb, have a characteristic monkey shape, allowing them to cling tightly to the branches and twigs of trees.

In contrast to orangutans, gorillas mainly lead a terrestrial lifestyle in forests and climb trees only for food or for safety, and as for chimpanzees, smaller and heavier monkeys, they occupy an intermediate place in this regard.

Suborder Greater primates - anthropoid.

All higher primates are divided into two sections - broad-nosed and narrow-nosed monkeys(Fig. 5). The division is based on differences in the structure of the nasal septum: in broad-nosed monkeys it is wide and the nostrils point to the side, while in narrow-nosed monkeys it is narrow, with the nostrils facing down. They also differ in their habitats. All broad-nosed monkeys live in South America and are called New World monkeys; Slant-nosed monkeys live in Africa and Asia and are called Old World monkeys.

Fig 5.

Broadnose section

In the section of broad-nosed monkeys, three families are distinguished - small marmosets, calliminos and large capuchin monkeys. All marmosets and callimicos have primitive structural features - a hairy ear, a relatively simple brain, almost without convolutions, up to three young are born. Marmosets are the smallest of all primates; In addition to the marmosets themselves, these include pygmy marmosets and tamarins. All are characterized by a paired family lifestyle; only one adult female breeds in the group, while the male cares for the offspring. Callimico was isolated from the marmoset family relatively recently. In terms of the structure of the teeth, the shape of the skull, and biochemical parameters, they are similar to capuchin monkeys and occupy an intermediate position between them and marmoset monkeys.

Capuchin monkeys have a prehensile tail, the lower end of the tail is hairless, and has the same dermatoglyphic patterns as on the palms. This tail acts as an additional limb. The first finger of the hand is underdeveloped, sometimes absent, but on the foot it is well developed and contrasted with the others. The brain is quite developed, these monkeys have difficult behavior, easily learn complex skills. They live in large groups. All of them are arboreal and diurnal, except for one genus of nocturnal monkeys. Like prosimians, all broad-nosed monkeys have skin glands, with the secretion of which they mark territory. Broad-nosed monkeys often form multi-species communities to better protect themselves from predators. They have well-developed acoustic (voice) communication and rich facial expressions.

Narrownose section

Monkey monkeys. They are small or medium in size, their forelimbs are equal to their hind limbs or slightly shorter. The first finger of the hand and foot is well contrasted with the rest. The fur covers the entire body, with the exception of the face, and is usually bright in color. There are ischial calluses and cheek pouches. Cheek pouches are special pockets - folds of the mucous membrane in oral cavity on both cheeks, where monkeys stuff food in reserve. In addition to ischial calluses, they have so-called “genital skin” - areas of skin that swell and turn red during ovulation, this can serve as a signal to the male that the female is ready to mate. Ischial calluses, unlike the genital skin, are vascular-free. They are comfortable when sleeping or sitting on the ground. All monkeys move on the ground and branches of trees, among them there are terrestrial forms (baboons, geladas), arboreal-terrestrial (rhesus macaques, and lapunders) and purely arboreal (all thin-bodied monkeys, langurs, etc.). They are plantigrade, resting on their feet and hands when walking. The tail is never grasping. Some species have well-developed sexual dimorphism, that is, males are larger than females. They are all gregarious, living in forests, savannas, and on rocks. The apes include the genera of marmosets, hussars, baboons, mandrills, geladas, mangobays, macaques and the subfamilies of slender-bodied monkeys, the genera of colobus monkeys, gwerets, and langurs. A very beautiful monkey - Hanuman langur is considered sacred monkey in India, Sri Lanka and other countries. According to the epic Ramayana, the Hanuman langur saved the pious Rama and his wife. In Egypt, the hamadryas baboon is considered a sacred animal, considered the personification of the god Ra - the god of health, fertility, generosity and writing.

Family Gibbonaceae. These are small, gracefully built monkeys, their forelimbs are longer than their hind limbs, their fur is thick, their palms, soles, ears and face are bare. There are small ischial calluses. The fingers are long, the first finger is well opposed to the rest. Distributed in India, Indochina, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and the Malacca Peninsula. All of them are arboreal, inhabitants of the tropical forest with a characteristic method of movement - brachiation: alternately intercepting tree branches with their hands, they fly from tree to tree at a distance of up to fifteen meters. They can walk on the ground on two legs, balancing with their arms. Some gibbons exhibit sexual dimorphism in hair color, for example, male gibbons are black and females are light beige. Another feature of the gibbon is family life, while each family has its own territory and has something in common with other families. This behavior is called "singing" or "choiring" by gibbons; The initiator of singing is, as a rule, the male, then the whole family joins him. Joint-toed gibbons - siamangs - even have special throat vocal sacs - resonators to amplify sound.

The Pongid family unites Asian orangutans and African apes - chimpanzees and gorilla. All of them are distinguished by their large body sizes; the gorilla weighs up to 200 kilograms and grows up to two meters. They have a relatively short body and long limbs, no tail, shortened sacral spine, barrel-shaped rib cage, broad shoulders. All are characterized by semi-upright movement along branches and the ground, relying on the knuckles of the forelimbs. They have large and complex brains, about six times larger than those of lower monkeys such as macaques. The gorilla's brain weighs 420 grams and has many convolutions. The frontal lobe is larger than that of lower apes. Like humans, apes have well-developed facial muscles, and their lips are very mobile. Chimpanzees have ischial calluses; gorillas and orangutans are rare. The hair on the back and chest is sparse, and there are no tufts of tactile hair on the face (vibrissae). The immunological and biochemical parameters of chimpanzees, gorillas and humans are very similar in blood proteins. The gestation period is the same as in humans (9 months), the baby develops very slowly, up to seven years. They all have high intelligence, are able to use objects as tools in nature and in captivity.

Orangutans are common in Sumatra and Kalimantan and are distinguished by their massive build (males are 150 centimeters tall and weigh 100-200 kilograms). Females are significantly smaller than males. Kalimantan orangutans have developed cheek growths made of connective tissue and fat. The hind limbs are short, the front limbs are long, the fingers on the hands are long and have the appearance of hooks, the first finger is shortened on the hand, and there are large guttural pouches on the neck. The skull of orangutans is long, elongated, the facial region is concave. The skull has sagittal and occipital crests. The lower jaw is massive, the teeth are large, with strongly wrinkled crowns, the fangs rarely protrude beyond the dentition. Brain volume is 300-500 cm3.

Gorilla

There are three subspecies: mountain, coastal and lowland. The lowland gorilla is common in Western equatorial Africa (Cameroon, Gabon), in the Congo River valley and near Lake Tanganyika. The male is about two meters tall, weighs up to 200 kilograms, has a massive neck and shoulders, a skull with a low forehead and a powerful supraorbital ridge. Males also have sagittal and occipital crests. Females are smaller than males. The face comes forward lower jaw very massive.

Chimpanzees live in tropical Africa, in the Congo and Niger river basins. Chimpanzees are shorter and thinner in build, height 150 centimeters, weight 50 kilograms, sexual demorphism in body size is less pronounced than in the gorilla and orangutan. The supraorbital ridge is also less developed, and the occipital ridge is absent. The forehead is straighter, the brain skull is rounder, the fangs are less developed, and the wrinkled crowns are also weaker than in the orangutan. The pygmy chimpanzee, or bonob, is a living model of early hominids, characterized by its small stature and gracefulness. Lives in Zaire.

Family Hominidae. Body height 140-190 centimeters. Females are 10-12 centimeters smaller than males. Characterized by a vertical body position and movement only on the lower limbs. The first toe loses mobility and is not opposed to the rest. The length of the lower limbs significantly exceeds the length of the upper ones. Great importance has the development of the first finger of the hand. The head is round, characterized by a highly developed brain part and a slightly protruding facial part. The facial section is located not in front of the brain, but below it. The foramen magnum is directed downwards. The teeth are poorly developed, almost indistinguishable from the incisors. The molars have flattened tubercles on the chewing surface, four tubercles on the upper ones, and 5 on the lower ones. The spinal column is S-shaped curved, which is associated with the vertical position of the body. The sacral and caudal vertebrae fuse into complex bones - the sacrum and coccyx. Characterized by strong development of the femur. The brain is unusually developed, especially the cerebral hemispheres with grooves and convolutions. Pregnancy lasts 280 days, one child is born, less often two or three. Humans are characterized by the longest periods of child development and learning among mammals.

Superfamily Broad-nosed monkeys - Ceboidea includes American monkeys, from the group great apes. With the exception of humans, broad-nosed monkeys are the only primates living on the American continent. Their habitat extends from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. On islands Caribbean Sea Previously, there were several now extinct species belonging to the group of Antillean monkeys (Xenotrochini).

Most people have a wide nasal septum, with nostrils set wide apart and facing outward. Body length from 13 cm ( pygmy marmoset) up to 75 cm (howler monkey), tail from 19 cm (pygmy marmoset) to 90 cm (koata); Some have a prehensile tail. They do not have cheek pouches or ischial calluses. The fur is thick and varied in color. Teeth 32 (marmosets) or 36 (cebus). Broad-nosed monkeys include 1 superfamily, combining 2 families: marmosets and cebus monkeys (or cebids).

They lead an arboreal, diurnal (except for Mirikini), gregarious lifestyle; some live in small family groups.

The oldest fossil finds of broad-nosed monkeys date back to the Oligocene era. In relation to the other two infraorders of dry-nosed monkeys, they are more closely related to the Old World monkeys than to the tarsiers. It is likely that the ancestors of this taxon moved across Atlantic Ocean on floating logs in an era when the distance between continents was not yet so great.

Broad-nosed monkeys

Apes and Us There is another important group of evolutionary witnesses relevant to differences between men and women: our close relatives. Great apes - chimpanzees, pygmy chimpanzees (also known as bonobos), gorillas and orangutans,