Chimpanzees are not monkeys!

A lot of people think chimpanzees are a kind of monkey, or that chimps and monkeys are the same thing. No. They are not. I'm going to try to help you understand what the deal is.

Primates are divided into two main groups:

• anthropoids (human-like)
• prosimians

Anthropoids are divided into three groups:

• humans
• apes
• monkeys

As you see already, monkeys are not even apes. Of the anthropoids, apes and monkeys are the cutest. Apes are divided by size, into the Great Apes and the Lesser Apes. The Lesser Apes are gibbons. There are 3 types of Great Apes:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• orangutans

Monkeys are divided by geographical habitat, Old World and New World.

• New World monkeys (live in Central and South America) sometimes have prehensile tails (can grab things), live in the trees, and are generally smaller. They include marmosets and tamarins.
• Old World monkeys (live in Asia and Africa) do not have prehensile tails, live in trees or on the ground, and are generally larger. They include baboons, langurs, colobus monkeys, guenons, and macaques.
• The picture on the bottom of my front page is definitely a monkey, not a chimp. See the long tail? Chimps don't have those.

Now going back to the prosimians, which are the other group of non-human like primates. Prosimians consist of aye-ayes, galagos, lemurs, pottos, and tarsiers. They are very cute, as you can tell by their adorable names.

Email me by clicking below.