What Kinds of Monkeys Are There? A Guide to Common Monkey Species

Monkeys are relatively advanced animals in the animal kingdom, and are generally seen in ecological parks or tropical forests. So what kinds of monkeys are there?

1. Rhesus macaque

The rhesus macaque has a body length of 51-63 cm, a short tail, cheek pouches, and a stout body. Its forelimbs and hindlimbs are about the same length, and its thumb can oppose the other four fingers, allowing it to grasp things dexterously. Its forehead is low, with a protruding ridge. The head is brown, the back is brownish gray or brownish yellow, the lower parts are orange-yellow or orange-red, and the belly is pale grayish yellow. It mainly inhabits dense forests or sparse rocky hills on stone cliffs, beside streams and gullies, and along riverbanks, and lives in groups. Groups can number from a dozen or so to several hundred individuals. It feeds on leaves, tender twigs, wild vegetables, and also eats small birds, bird eggs, and various insects, and preys on other small animals. When communicating with one another, they make various sounds or gestures, and grooming each other is also an important social activity.

2. Slender loris

The slender loris is a small prosimian mainly found in the rainforest regions of India and Sri Lanka. Its average body length is between 17.5 and 26 cm, and its average weight is only 85-350 g. It has a pair of large forward-facing eyes and also very large ears. Its big toe opposes the other four toes, forming a pincer shape that can grasp objects. It has no tail, its body is dark gray, and its fur is silvery white. It can be said to be the cutest and shyest animal, with a thin and small body and big eyes, making it extremely endearing.

3. Spider monkey

The spider monkey gets its name because its body and limbs are both very slender, so when it moves in the trees, from a distance it looks like a giant spider. Its head is round and small, its tail is longer than its body, its hair is thick and dense, it has no thumb, and it can walk upright. When moving in the trees, it leaps or crawls with its slender limbs, and can also wrap its long tail around branches to swing back and forth. It is distributed across a vast area from southern Mexico to Brazil and lives in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America.

4. Colobus monkey

The colobus monkey can be considered one of the most beautiful of the monkeys, because its fur color is highly varied and it also looks very comical. Its ischial callosities are very small, its tail is very long, and the tip of the tail often has a tuft of hair, sometimes forming a ball shape. Its cheek pouches are also smaller than those of ordinary monkeys, and its thumb has degenerated into a small wart, hence the name colobus monkey. Some live in dense jungles, and some live in woodlands close to grasslands. They mainly eat tender buds and leaves of plants, and also eat wild fruits and grains. Each group of colobus monkeys numbers from 9 to 13 individuals, led by an adult male, and they use loud calls to defend their territory. They are agile and can make long-distance jumps between branches. Because their fur is beautiful, they have been greedily and recklessly hunted by humans, and African countries have listed colobus monkeys as precious protected animals.

5. Langur

China has 6 species of langurs, namely the François' langur, the white-headed langur, the long-tailed langur, the Phayre's langur, the capped langur, and the white-rumped langur, all of which are Class I nationally protected animals in China. Langurs originated in Europe. Their ancestors spread from Europe through Africa to Asia, first entering Southeast Asia, and then along river valleys or lowlands entered the subtropical forests with tropical karst landforms in southern and southwestern China, where they survived and reproduced in their current distribution areas and formed dominant populations.

6. Stump-tailed macaque

The stump-tailed macaque, also called the red-faced macaque, is a relatively large species of macaque. It weighs 5 kg, has a body length of 50-56 cm, and an extremely short tail. Its face is often dark red or marked with purplish-red patches, and its body color is dark, with the back mostly dark brownish black or dark olive brown, and the belly slightly lighter than the back, also dark brownish yellow. It mainly inhabits primary broad-leaved forests, mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests, or bamboo forest zones at 1500-3000 m. Its diet is omnivorous, feeding on wild fruits, leaves, and bamboo shoots, and also preying on small animals such as crabs and frogs.

7. Baboon

The baboon has a body length of 50.8-114.2 cm, a tail length of 38.2-71.1 cm, and can weigh up to 60 kg. Its head is thick and long, its muzzle protrudes, its ears are small, its brow ridge is prominent, its eyes are deep-set, and its canine teeth are long and pointed, reaching up to 5 cm. It has cheek pouches. Its build is sturdy, its 4 limbs are equal in length, short and thick, and adapted to life on the ground. Its buttocks have brightly colored callosities. The fur is yellow, yellowish brown, greenish brown, to brown, and generally the tail fur is darker. The fur is coarse, with short hair on the face and ears. Males have long hair around the face, on the neck, and on the shoulders, while in females it is shorter. It is mainly distributed in Africa.

8. Mandrill

The mandrill is the largest monkey family primate in the world. Its head is large and long, and on each side of the nasal bone there is 1 bony protrusion, on which there are longitudinally arranged ridge-like projections separated by grooves, covered outside with green skin, and bright red between the ridges. Males have about 6 main grooves on each side, and the red parts extend to around the nasal bone and muzzle. This brightly colored special pattern resembles a ghost or monster, which is why it is called the mandrill. It is a social animal that lives in small groups and plays among the jungle and rocks. Its main natural enemy is the leopard, but leopards generally only hunt female mandrills and immature mandrills.

9. Golden snub-nosed monkey

The golden snub-nosed monkey has soft fur and an upturned nose. There are 6 species: the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey, the Nujiang snub-nosed monkey, the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey, the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey, and the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey. Among them, except for the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey and the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, all are precious animals endemic to China. They live in groups in high mountain dense forests and feed on berries, bamboo shoots, and moss, and also like to eat meat such as bird eggs. Their habitat is at very high altitude, and the long hair on their bodies can withstand cold. All 6 species are rare species and are all listed as endangered species on the Red List of Threatened Species.

10. François' langur

The François' langur has a body length of about 50-60 cm, a small head, a tail longer than its body, and slender limbs. On top of its head there is an upright crest of hair. The hair on the back is longer and denser than that on the belly, and the ischial callosities are relatively large. Its whole body is glossy black, with white hair from the base of the ears to the cheeks, and its hands and feet are black. It mainly feeds on fruits, seeds, tender buds, and leaf stalks, and also eats fresh twigs and tender leaves, flower buds, bamboo shoots, small birds, and insects, with food sources reaching more than 80 kinds. It mainly inhabits tropical rainforests, monsoon rainforests, and southern subtropical monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forests along both banks of rivers and in low mountain valley areas. The altitude of its habitat is less than 1200 m, and it is distributed in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and other places.