Primate fun facts!
Sink your teeth into these primate fun facts and be sure to share with your friends to impress them with your primate knowledge!
Photo: Nik Borrow
Largest living primate!
Gorillas are the largest living primates, with males weighing in excess of 200kg!
Photo: Allan Hopkins
Smallest living primate!
Madame berthe's mouse lemurs are the smallest living primates, weighing a tiny 30g!
Photo: Hamdunn Zakaria
Some monkeys have cheek pouches
Cercopithecoid monkeys have pouches that start in their cheeks and distend down the sides of their neck. Perfect for storing food for later! You can see them under the chin of the macaque in the photo.
Photo: cuatrok77
Siamang throat sacs
Siamang gibbon throat sacs can inflate to the size of their head during singing! They help amplify their calls as they perform their morning duets with their partner.
Photo: Brian Jeffery Beggerly
Japanese macaques and hotsprings
Being the most northerly ranging (non-human) primates, japanese macaques must cope with some low temperatures. They bathe in hotsprings to keep warm in the cold!
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Lemurs are endemic to Madagascar
Lemurs are special; they are found naturally on Madgascar and nowhere else in the world!
Photo: Mathias Appel
Photo: cuatrok77
Photo: Su Neko
Prehensile tails only in some monkeys!
Only platyrrhine monkeys, monkeys of the Americas, possess prehensile tails within primates. These are tails that can grip, making them act like a 5th limb.
Photo: Koen Muurling
Eatin' dirt!
Many species of primates practice geophagy - consuming of soil. Eating soil can help supplement nutrients they are lacking as well as help to digest toxins that may be in their diet.
Photo: Mathias Appel
Photo: cuatrok77
Photo: Niek van Son
Eyes bigger than its brain!
Each of a tarsiers eyeballs is larger than its brain! They have some big eyes to facilitate their nocturnal lifestyle.