Flash
1/9/25
International Primate Day
On the 1st of September every year it is International Primate Day. It is a day to learn about primates and about the conservation efforts to help protect these amazing creatures, a lot of which are incredibly endangered.
Top 10 Primate Facts
1. Humans are primates!
2. Other primates include gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, mandrils, baboons, lemurs, lorises and tarsiers.
3. Primates are mammals.
4. They are some of the cleverest creatures on the planet. Primates have large brains and are known to be able learn, solve problems and sometimes show emotions.
5. Primates often live in social groups like families and have many clever ways of communicating with each other.
6. Most primates have opposable thumbs, which means they have thumbs that can bend to touch their other fingers. This helps them grasp things easily, helping them to hold things, climb trees easily and even use objects as tools in some cases.
7. Primates have good eyesight. Their eyes face forward and the view from each eye overlaps. This helps them judge distances more effectively than many animals. They can also see in lots of colours, which lots of animals can’t.
8. Most primates live in tropical habitats near the equator, in places such as Africa, Asia and Central and South America.
9. Most primates only give birth to one baby at a time and then look after them for a long time afterwards, especially in comparison to most animals.
10. Over 60% of primates are threatened (meaning almost endangered), endangered (numbers of them are very low) or critically endangered (at real risk of becoming extinct).
Apes
Great Apes
Great Apes include humans, gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos.
These primates are similar to us in many ways. Chimpanzees and bonobos in particular are incredibly like us.
Great Apes are not monkeys and they don’t have tails. They are large creatures, with long arms who often walk on all fours. The smaller ones might swing through trees and climb up them to rest, but larger Great Apes stay on the ground.
Great Apes are the most intelligent of all primates. They are incredibly clever. They are known to be able to use objects as tools, and can pass information to others so they can do similar things. They have brilliant communication skills, and some Great Apes have even been taught some sign language by humans.
While humans obviously live over the planet, other Great Apes are found living in Africa and Asia.
Lesser Apes
Lesser Apes are basically Gibbons. Siamangs are the largest species of Gibbon.
These apes are smaller than the Great Apes but otherwise are fairly similar. They spend their time swinging through trees and are very good at it.
Lesser Apes aren’t quite as intelligent as Great Apes. They are very good at communicating and known to be very loud.
They are found living in rainforests in Asia.
Monkeys
There are lots of monkeys and they make up about 80% of all primates. Monkeys are grouped depending on where they live.
They are intelligent creatures. All monkeys live in social groups and have lots of different and loud ways of communicating with each other. Most monkeys spend their time swinging through the trees, although some species, such as Baboons, prefer the ground!
Old World Monkeys
Old World monkeys live in Africa and Asia.
Old World monkeys include Baboons, Mandrills, Drills, Macaques, Guenons, Langurs, and Colobus Monkeys.
Old World monkeys are bigger than New World monkeys. Old World monkeys also have narrower noses.
New World Monkeys
New World monkeys live in Central and South America.
New World monkeys include Howler Monkeys, Spider Monkeys, Squirrel Monkeys, Woolly Monkeys, Marmosets, Tamarins, and Capuchins.
New World monkeys are able to grasp with their tails, which are much longer. This means that they can use their tail to hold onto branches and it helps them hold on to branches, almost acting like another arm. Old World monkeys can’t do this.
Prosimians
Prosimians include Lemurs, Lorises and Bushbabies. It also includes Tasiers, but these are believed to actually be more closely related to other primates.
Lemurs are only found living in Madagascar. There are over 100 species. Most live up in the trees, although some species spend time on the ground.
Lorises are slow moving nocturnal primates. They have enormous eyes. Lorises live up in the trees in rainforests in Asia.
Bushbabies are another type of small nocturnal primate. They get their name as they sound like new born babies crying when the communicate. They are found living in Africa.
Tasiers are a tiny type of primate and only grow to about 15cm. They have huge eyes, which are helpful as they are nocturnal. Like an owl they can turn their heads really far round! They are found living in rainforests in Asia. Unlike most primates they usually live by themselves.
Find out more about primates...
Photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots, Shutterstock and Public Domain Images.