DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NEW WORLD AND THE OLD WORLD MONKEY

The old world monkeys are from the superfamily Cercopithecidea, they are found in the continents of Africa and Asia. The new world monkeys are found in Central and South America. They are the four families of primates namely, the Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae and Atelidae and these families are called the Platyrrhini parvorder.


The monkeys are the animal’s species of the suborder Anthropoidea. These suborders have two distinct infraoder that have evolved independent of each other for 30,000,000 years, namely the Platyrrhini and the Catarrhini. The Platyrrhini refers to the new world monkey and catarrhini refers to the old world monkey. These two groups of species can be differentiated from each other by their physical appearance.


The nose of the Platyrrhine is flat as compared to the one of the catarrhine, their nostrils are separated by a wide septum, while of the catarrhine are separated by a small septum. Platyrrhine have three molars which are large as compared to the one of the catarrhine which are two and sharply connected cusps. Besides the physical characteristics of this species, they can also be differentiated by their behaviours. The males of the platyrrhine are involved in the infant care, most of the time the males will caring the infant and give them to their females for nursing. On the other side there is no involvement.


The platyrrhines are confined arboreal habitats and are herbivorous; they only eat leaves, fruits, nuts, gums and occasional small preys such as insects. While the catarrhines tolerate wider habitats, couples of them spend most or some of their day on the ground. These monkeys have hairless callous pads, ‘on their rumps which may be adaptations for long sitting or sleeping on rough branches and stone’ and the new world monkeys do not have that.

The new world monkeys are having long tails, often prehensile tails. Most of this tails are small, arboreal and nocturnal, while of the old monkeys are easily observed, they never had a prehensile tails. The new world monkeys sometimes use their tails as their third hand. Another difference between the two monkeys is their body; the old world monkeys are having large body size as compared to the new world monkeys. And the old world monkeys are having bright colourful colours especially in their face; on the other side the new world monkeys are having dark colours.

In conclusion, it is easier to differentiate the old world from the new world monkeys simply by their appearance, when you are distanced from them you can check their colours, body weight and when you are not far you can also check their facial appearance as they are different.

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