Order Primates — Primates

Kingdom: Animalia > Phylum: Chordata > Class: Mammalia > Order: Primates

Primates include monkeys, apes, lemurs and their relatives. They are generally characterised by forward-facing eyes, flexible hands and feet with grasping digits, and relatively large brains compared with other mammals. Most species live in tropical forests and spend much of their time in the trees.

Primates are usually divided into two main evolutionary groups: Strepsirrhines (lemurs, lorises and galagos) and Haplorhines (tarsiers, monkeys and apes).

Families within Order Primates

The families within each evolutionary group are listed below

Strepsirrhines — Lemurs, Lorises and Galagos

Cheirogaleidae — dwarf and mouse lemurs
Daubentoniidae — aye-aye
Galagidae — bushbabies or galagos
Indriidae — indris and sifakas
Lemuridae — true lemurs
Lepilemuridae — sportive lemurs
Lorisidae — lorises and pottos

Haplorhines — Tarsiers, Monkeys and Apes

Tarsiiformes

Tarsiidae — tarsiers

New World monkeys (Central and South America)

Aotidae — night monkeys
Atelidae — howler, spider and woolly monkeys
Callitrichidae — marmosets and tamarins
Cebidae — capuchins and squirrel monkeys
Pitheciidae — sakis, titis and uakaris

Old World monkeys and apes

Cercopithecidae — Old World monkeys
Hominidae — great apes and humans
Hylobatidae — gibbons

Observations

Observation notes and photographs are provided below for the families in which I have recorded sightings.

Old World monkeys — Family Cercopithecidae

My first experience of monkeys was in Malaysia in 1999 where Long-tailed Macaque came right up to us and tried to steal anything they could. Since then I have seen four other species, in Bhutan. We watched Assamese Macaque having a grooming session down by the river, saw Capped Langurs playing on a hillside, and later spent a long time watching a family group of Golden Langurs across a valley, including a small baby.

Expand to view species I have seen (5)

Assamese Macaque (Macaca assamensis) — Bhutan 2020
Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) — Malaysia 1991
Northern Plains Gray Langur (Semnopithecus entellus) — Bhutan 2020
Golden Langur (Trachypithecus geei) — Bhutan 2020
Capped Langur(Trachypithecus pileatus) — Bhutan 2020

Assamese Macaque - Macaca assamensis — Assamese Macaque (*Macaca assamensis*)
— Bhutan 2020

Northern Plains Gray Langur - Semnopithecus entellus — Northern Plains Gray Langur (*Semnopithecus entellus*)
— Bhutan 2020

Golden Langur - Trachypithecus geei — Golden Langur (*Trachypithecus geei*)
— Bhutan 2020

Capped Langur - Trachypithecus pileatus — Capped Langur (*Trachypithecus pileatus*)
— Bhutan 2020

New World monkey families I’ve encountered

I have also seen several New World monkey families during my travels. In Costa Rica we both heard and saw Howler Monkeys and had several interesting encounters with Spider Monkeys. At Tortuguero we watched one having a face-off with a Tiger Heron, quite a sight, and later saw another swinging through the trees with a small baby clinging on.

In Brazil we saw both Pied Tamarin and a group of Bearded Saki Monkeys from the top of the 42-metre tower at MUSA in Manaus. On the Amazon we were shown Night Monkeys living in a tree on the property of our guide at Novo Airão. During our Amazon cruise we came across several other monkey species as well, although we never managed particularly close views.

Expand to view species I have seen (10)

Family Cebidae — Capuchins and Squirrel Monkeys