Category Science

All lemurs love to come across a tree of juicy figs, but one ruffed lemur once ate about 500 figs in a week. The greedy lemur defended the crop of fruit against any would-be raiders!

Is it true? Tarsiers have a swivelling head.

Yes. Tarsiers can turn their head half a full circle, like an owl. This is a perfect way to catch an unsuspecting katydid or other flying insect.

Do monkeys and apes eat bananas?

Primates do eat bananas and even peel them first. Fruit, seeds, flowers, shoots, leaves and fungi (types of mushroom) are all perfect primate meals. The orang-utan’s favourite snack is the stinky durian fruit, which smells like cheese.

Amazing! Primates chew gum. Many primates, especially marmosets and bushbabies, scrape away the bark of a gum tree to get at the sap. But when it’s fresh the gum is liquid, so the animals drink rather than chew.

Which primates eat poison?

Lorises eat insects that are so toxic (poisonous) that they would give other animals a heart attack! They sneak up on their prey and grab it with their hands. The golden bamboo lemur even eats young bamboo shoots that contain cyanide, which is a very dangerous poison.

Picture Credit : Google

It’s not just birds that sleep in nests – huge gorillas do too! They bend branches in bushes and trees and make a cosy bed just above the ground. Sometimes they make a mini day nest, where they snatch a midday snooze.

Is it true? Gorillas are monster meat-eaters.

No. Despite their enormous size, these gentle giants are vegetarians. They feed on fruits, roots and vegetables, especially delicious wild celery.

Which gorillas go grey?

Adult male, gorillas are called silverbacks, because of the silvery grey fur on their back and face. The silverback is the leader, who defends the troop.

Amazing! Gorillas use sign language! Wild gorillas communicate with grunts and body language. But a gorilla called Koko learned proper sign language, as used by people who can’t speak or hear.

When is it rude to stare?

It’s always rude to look straight at a gorilla. In gorilla language, staring means you’re angry and looking for a fight. Sometimes, gorillas beat their chests when they’re cross.

Picture Credit : Google

In relation to its overall size, the orang-utan has the biggest armspan. Its arms are three times as long as its body, which is just right for an animal that spends its life swinging from tree to tree! The name orang-utan is the Malay for ‘man of the woods’.

Is it true? Gorillas in the wild are bigger than gorillas in zoos.

No. Life in a zoo can make gorillas rather lazy and, sometimes, rather fat! The record-breaker was a male called N’gagi, who weighed in at a whopping 310 kg. That’s about the same as five adult humans!

Amazing! The gorilla is the world’s biggest ape. It is a tiny bit taller than a man, but usually about three times as heavy.

Which is the most colourful monkey?

Male mandrills, which belong to the baboon family, have very brightly coloured faces. Mandrills are also among the biggest monkeys, at just under a metre tall, with a weight of about 20 kilograms.

Which is the world’s smallest primate?

The eastern brown mouse lemur of Madagascar is truly tiny. From the top of its head to its bottom, it measures just over six centimetres. It could easily sit on your palm, if it wasn’t so shy!

Picture Credit : Google

By looking at its bottom! If it has no tail, it’s probably either a ‘great ape’ — a gorilla, chimp, orang-utan, or bonobo – or it might be a type of gibbon or ‘lesser ape’, such as the siamang. Except for a few out of over 100 types, monkeys do have tails. Monkeys and apes belong to a group of intelligent animals called primates.

Amazing! You are a primate! Like all primates, you have forward-facing eyes, a big brain and hands that grip. Your genes (the instructions which tell your body what to be) are actually very similar to a chimp’s genes.

Who’s stopped being a primate?

Experts used to say that the tree shrew was a primate, but really they’re more similar to insect-eating creatures such as moles, shrews and hedgehogs.

Are monkeys and apes the only primates?

Lemurs, bushbabies, lorises and tarsiers are all primitive primates. They have smaller brains than monkeys or apes and rely more on their sense of smell than sight.

Is it true? Primates were around in dinosaur days.

Yes. People have found fossils of early, squirrel-sized primates that lived about 70 million years ago – about the same time that terrifying Tyrannosaurus rex roamed the land.