What is a Monkey?

Monkey is the name for a member of the primate order (Similformes) that includes lemurs, monkeys and apes. Informally, it may also be used to mean any ape that is not a great ape, such as a gorilla, chimpanzee or orangutan. The term is usually reserved for the Old World monkeys in the subfamily Cercopithecinae, which are in the clade Catarrhini.

Like other members of the simian family, monkeys are highly social animals. Most live in troops, which are usually composed of several females with their offspring and either one male (as in hamadryas baboons, mandrills, most guenons and some langurs) or several males (as in savannah baboons and macaques). Most are diurnal; that is, they spend most of the day in the trees and are active during the daylight hours. The troops range in size from a few to thousands of monkeys.

Most monkeys are very intelligent, but unlike the great apes, they cannot use open-ended language to express ideas. They do, however, develop a repertoire of behaviors to solve problems such as getting at new foods. Typically, these innovations spread throughout their entire troops through the process of imitation.

Often, monkeys are well behaved in captivity as long as they are given ample attention and challenges. This is why they are such popular characters in books, TV shows and movies, from Curious George to the star of the recent film Jungle Book, Mowgli. Like other primates, monkeys are sensitive to their environment and need to be in a natural setting. In fact, many species of monkeys are endangered in the wild because of the human activities that are affecting their habitats.