Our big cousins of the animal world, the prosimians, monkeys and apes, may be the most engaging of all because we see ourselves in them.
Like all animals, we know primates are struggling to survive in a world full of ferocious enemies. But when we see them leaping and chattering through the branches or chasing and squabbling on the forest floor, we can’t help but think of playful children and of the happiest times in our own lives.
Monkeys and, even more so, apes are truly our closest relatives. It is certain that humans and the primates come from common ancestors. Monkeys began to spread out and diversify early, before the original land mass broke apart into the continents we know today. So now, clearly related yet somewhat distinct groups of monkeys can be found in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Later, in the trees of African forests, the apes branched off, lost their tails and refined some very human-like characteristics such as binocular vision and grasping hands with fully opposable thumbs. From tiny marmosets to massive apes, modern primates have taken on a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
We have come to know that primates are the cleverest non-human animals in the world. We have observed them using tools, organizing group strategies and social order, and communicating in ways that look a lot like the beginnings of language must have looked in our own species. While lacking the vocalizing equipment we possess, some primates, through an ability to learn sign language, are able to communicate with us directly.
In sometimes bright shades of blue, red, and gold, some monkeys, like the group known as guenons, seem like theatrical caricatures in costumes and masks. They look at us in the eyes from behind their masks and seem to recognize us, as we recognize them, to be very close cousins.
| Primates Colouring Book One (Cover: Silverback)Great educational coloring books Beautiful drawings to color-in Delivered as downloads – Get them immediately Print and colour the books as many times as you like Ideal for school, homeschool, or just for fun!This book is available as an instant download. You can print them as many times as you like! Plus no shipping fees, no waiting time! *Easy payments via credit card or Paypal. The download link is sent instantly to the email address you provided. | |
| Howler Monkey Bonobos Tarsier L’Hoest’s Guenon Silverback Barbary Macaques Marmoset Proboscis Monkey Roloway Guenon Vervet Eating Fries Lesser Spot Nose Guenon Gorilla Head DeBrasso’s Guenon Mandril Capuchin Monkey Gibbon Family Emperor Tamerin Mona Guenon Crab Eating Macaque Gorilla Owl Face Guenon Ruffed Lemur Gelada Baboon Owl Monkey Sample Pages |
| Primates Colouring Book Two (Cover: Squirrel Monkey)Great educational coloring books Beautiful drawings to color-in Delivered as downloads – Get them immediately Print and colour the books as many times as you like Ideal for school, homeschool, or just for fun!This book is available as an instant download. You can print them as many times as you like! Plus no shipping fees, no waiting time! *Easy payments via credit card or Paypal. The download link is sent instantly to the email address you provided. | |
| Orangutan Slow Loris Golden Guenon Sun Tail Guenon Siamang Ringtail Lemur Moustashed Guenon Red Face Uakari Rhesus Macaques Squirrel Monkey Sifaka Chimpanzee Sclater’s Guenon Golden Snub Nose Monkey Syke’s Guenon Bush Baby Crowned Guenon Pygmy Marmoset Diana Guenon Red Shanked Douc Langur Red Tail Guenon Black and White Colobus Monkey Red Eared Guenon Vervets Sample Pages |