Facts About Monkeys

monkeys

Monkeys are a type of ape (infraorder Similformes). They are the closest living relatives to humans. They are characterized by intelligence, hands with opposable thumbs and tails that allow them to hang from trees.

They are omnivores, eating all sorts of foods, including fruits and nuts, seeds, eggs, lizards, and bird eggs. Their diets vary, depending on their environment.

Their prehensile tails are useful to monkeys like capuchins, who use them as a third hand to help climb and hang from branches. This allows them to reach harder-to-reach areas, such as branches and leaves, for food.

Grooming is a common behavior among some monkey species, helping them keep their fur clean and free of parasites. It also helps them build and maintain social relationships, especially with other troop members.

They also burp in a friendly social gesture, often with their trunks in the air, to express affection and make peace with each other. It is a very important and necessary social behavior for them to practice, as it may help them make friends or avoid fights with other troops.

A rhesus monkey was the first primate to be sent into space, in 1948. It was sent to test the safety of a space mission and it was not damaged during the launch.

Monkeys are used in many types of research, including biomedical science, to study the effects of drugs on the brain and the nervous system. They are also used to study toxicokinetics – how quickly a chemical compound enters the body and what happens once it is there.