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The Old World species are divided into apes and monkeys depending on the number of cusps on their molars: monkeys have four, apes have five [72] - although humans may have four or five. [78] The main hominid molar cusp evolved in early primate history, while the cusp of the corresponding primitive lower molar (paraconid) was lost. Prosimians ...
"Ape", from Old English apa, is a word of uncertain origin. [b] The term has a history of rather imprecise usage—and of comedic or punning usage in the vernacular.Its earliest meaning was generally of any non-human anthropoid primate, as is still the case for its cognates in other Germanic languages.
Extant primates exhibit a broad range of variation in sexual size dimorphism (SSD), or sexual divergence in body size. [4] It ranges from species such as gibbons and strepsirrhines (including Madagascar's lemurs) in which males and females have almost the same body sizes to species such as chimpanzees and bonobos in which males' body sizes are larger than females' body sizes.
[31] [32] Also, a few monkey species have the word "ape" in their common name, such as the Barbary ape. Later in the first half of the 20th century, the idea developed that there were trends in primate evolution and that the living members of the order could be arranged in a series, leading through "monkeys" and "apes" to humans. [33]
Males and females differ in size and appearance. Both chimpanzees and bonobos are some of the most social great apes, with social bonds occurring throughout large communities. Fruit is the most important component of a chimpanzee's diet; but they will also eat vegetation, bark, honey, insects and even other chimpanzees or monkeys.
In earlier classification, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, apes, and humans – collectively known as simians or anthropoids – were grouped under Anthropoidea (/ ˌ æ n θ r ə ˈ p ɔɪ d i. ə /; from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos) 'human' and -οειδής (-oeidḗs) 'resembling, connected to, etc.'), while the strepsirrhines and tarsiers were grouped under the ...
All old world monkeys and apes are trichromats, but new world monkeys are polymorphic trichromats, meaning that males and homozygous females are dichromats while heterozygous females are trichromats (with the exceptions of howler monkeys and night monkeys, who have more and less robust color vision respectively).
The monkey's size differs depending on sex and species. Males from all species can range from 41 to 70 cm (16 to 28 inches) in head and body length, and in weight from 5.5 to 18 kg (12.13 to 39.7 lb). [ 6 ]