My Science School

Primates are happiest in the wild, but zoos do important work. They breed animals that are becoming endangered, such as the golden lion tamarin or the silvery marmoset. Zoos also help people to learn about their ape and monkey cousins. This helps people to understand better why primates should be protected in the wild.

Amazing! Some people think that there are primates yet to be discovered - abominable snowmen! There are many tales of monstrous primates in remote parts of the world, including the yeti from central Asia.

Why are primates in danger?

Not all primates are threatened, but some are. Some, such as the emperor tamarin with its beautiful whiskery moustache, are caught to be sold as pets. Gorillas and orang-utans are in danger because people are destroying their habitat and are also hunting them. There are only about 650 gorillas left in the wild.

Is it true? People eat chimp and chips.

No. A few apes and monkeys are caught for food, but the biggest threats are the pet trade and the destruction of the places where they live.

Which primate came back from the dead?

Sometimes primates are thought to be extinct, only to re-appear. This happened with the greater bamboo lemur. Most primates are shy and good at hiding. Also, they often live in remote places which are difficult to explore.

Picture Credit : Google

Chimps are very clever, and even make simple tools. They sometimes strip a stick of its bark to make a kind of fishing rod that they use to fish for termites. They also use sticks to gather honey so they needn’t get too close to the nest and risk a nasty bee sting!

Amazing! Chimps take medicine. Chimpanzees sometimes eat plants that don’t taste very nice at all, as cures for illness. One herbal remedy is aspilia, which gets rid of tummy upsets and worms.

Can apes paint?

Tame chimps and gorillas have been given paints and paper so they can make pictures. Some of the results look like the work of human artists, and foxed a few of the so-called experts who couldn’t tell the difference!

Is it true? Chimps can talk.

No. People have taught chimps to point at symbols and to use sign language, so we know that they are clever enough to understand language. But chimps’ vocal cords are unable to produce spoken words like ours.

Who carries a pet stone?

Chimpanzees who live on Mount Tai, in West Africa, use a stone as a nutcracker to smash open the hard shells of the coula nut. There aren’t many rocks on the mountain, so each chimp carries around its own favourite stone.

Picture Credit : Google

Gibbons are the champion swingers. They have special bones in their wrists and shoulders to give them plenty of swing as they move from tree to tree. These long-armed apes live in the tropical forests of Malaysia and Indonesia.

Amazing! Primates have their own cushions. Many primates, including baboons which spend a lot of time sitting around, have built-in padding on their bottoms.

What hangs by the tail?

Woolly monkeys, spider monkeys and howler monkeys all have a bare patch of tail for extra grip. They are the only primates that can support all their weight with the tail and hang upside-down.

When are two legs better than four?

Crossing open ground can be a dangerous business with predators about. Lemurs can travel much more quickly on two legs than four. Standing upright also gives them a better view, and frees up their front legs, to pick up food.

Is it true? Slow lorises really do move slowly.

Yes. Lorises are the most relaxed primates. Unlike their busy monkey cousins, lorises stroll very slowly through the forest in search of food.

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The howler monkey is well-named, because it makes a terrific noise that can be heard up to five kilometres away through the trees. They hold howling competitions with neighbouring groups, to remind each other to keep to their own part of the forest.

Amazing! Monkeys do sentry duty. When a troop is enjoying a feast, one or two animals keep a lookout for predators. They have many different warning calls. For example, they make a certain noise only if a leopard is nearby.

Who grins with fright?

Chimpanzees have a special fear grin. They use it to warn others of danger without making a giveaway noise. Sometimes, when chimps come face to face with a predator, they use the horrible grin to try to frighten it away.

Is it true? Bushbabies rub wee on their feet!

Yes. And they also rub wee on their hands! It’s their way of leaving lots of smelly graffiti on the trees. Every place they’ve gripped has a scent which says ‘we were here’.

Whose bottom has something to say?

Many primates have brightly-coloured bottoms which are easy to see in the dim forest light. These bottoms tell other members of their own kind where they are. The mandrill’s bottom is the most colourful - it’s bright blue and red!

Like all primates, newborn lemur babies cling to their mum’s tum as she moves about the forest. As they get bigger and more curious, they have a piggyback, to get a better view.

Is it true? Only mums look after primate babies.

No. Baby titis are looked after by dad, and young male baboons often borrow a baby. No older male will attack, in case they harm the baby!

Do primate babies drink milk?

Primates are mammals - they give birth to live young and feed them milk. Most primates, including humans, usually have one baby at a time, but marmosets usually have twins.

Amazing! Baby gibbons wear bonnets. When it’s born, a baby gibbon has a cap of fur on the top of its head. Just like human babies, the rest of the baby gibbon’s body is completely bare!

Why are monkeys so cheeky?

All young monkeys love to play and it’s as important as school is for you! This is how they learn the skills they will need when they grow up.

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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.

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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.

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

The brown bear is a top angler. It knows just the time of year that delicious salmon head upriver to lay their eggs. The bear catches the fish with a quick swipe of the paw, or it waits until the salmon leap up mini waterfalls, and become tired.

When do bears climb trees?

When they want to escape danger. Black bears are expert climbers even as grown-ups. Brown bears only climb trees when they are cubs, usually to escape from adult brown bears, who are trying to eat them!

Amazing! The American black bear is one of the world’s champion snoozers. Its winter sleep, or hibernation, lasts for seven months - over half of the year!

Is it true? Koalas are bears.

No. Although we call them koala bears, koalas are really marsupials, which means they have pouches like kangaroos. Pandas aren’t bears either. They’re more closely related to raccoons.

Do all bears eat meat?

Even meat-eating bears sometimes like a change of diet. Polar bears snack on seaweed and berries when seals are scarce. Brown and black bears love honey, but collecting it is a very risky business. They often come away from the hive with a stung nose!

The powerful polar bear weighs in at 600 kg, which makes it about ten times heavier than a grown-up person, and the biggest of all meat-eating land mammals. Adult bears snack on fish and seals, but they have even been spotted guzzling down fat beluga whales that weigh as much as themselves!

Amazing! Polar bears cover their nose with their paw when they hunt. Although their fur is white, their noses are black and easy to spot in the snow. By covering its nose, the polar bear makes sure that its whole body is camouflaged against the snowy Arctic landscape.

Is it true? Polar bears poisoned Arctic explorers.

Yes. Polar bears’ livers contain a lot of Vitamin A. In small doses, this is fine for humans, but when hungry explorers ate the livers, they were poisoned.

Can bears walk on water?

They can when it’s frozen! Polar bears roam across northern Europe, northern Asia and North America. If the Arctic Ocean isn’t frozen they swim, protected by thick fur and fat!

Which cubs drink the creamiest milk?

Newborn polar bear cubs are tiny. They need to fatten up quickly to survive the cold. Luckily, their mother’s milk is thick and creamy and about half of it is pure fat.

The grey wolf is biggest wild dog and the most powerful. Males can be as long as two metres and weigh up to 80 kg, as much as four six-year-old children! Some grey wolves have brown, red or black coats.

Amazing! Except for the African wild dog, all pet dogs are descended from a wolf-like ancestor, which appeared about one million years ago.

Do wolves howl at the Moon?

Wolves howl whether the Moon’s out or not. They use their powerful voices to tell other packs of wolves to stay away, and to talk to members of their own pack, especially when they have spread out to hunt.

Is it true? You should never try to out-stare a wolf.

No. You should if you’re a musk ox. Wolves usually hunt by picking off young or sick members of a group of grazing animals. Musk oxen try to stop this happening by huddling in a tight circle. Faced with a wall of horns, the Arctic wolves can’t pick off any individual oxen.

Which wolf walks on stilts?

The maned wolf is the tallest wild dog. Its legs are longer than the length of its body! The maned wolf lives in the grasslands of South America. Its stilts give it a good view over the tall Pampas grasses.

The spotted, or laughing, hyena has two different calls. One sounds like a laugh, but the other sounds more like a wail. This hyena is very daring. It has attacked sleeping people and has even carried off young children!

Amazing! Hyenas work as refuse collectors. Hyenas are scavengers - they will eat just about anything. In some African villages hyenas are sometimes allowed in to clear the rubbish.

Is it true? All hyenas have manes.

No. Spotted hyenas don’t, but striped hyenas and brown hyenas do. They have scruffy-looking hair sticking up around their head and even down their back.

Do hyena cubs get on together?

Hyena cubs play with each other to practise the skills they’ll need as adults, but they don’t really get on. Twins fight over food, and sometimes, the weaker twin slowly starves to death.

Do hyenas hunt?

Spotted hyenas do, but other hyenas prefer other animals to do the work for them! Most hyenas feed mainly on carrion, which is a bigger hunter’s leftover. When then do hunt for themselves, hyenas go for wildebeest, zebra, or they steal a goat or cow from the local farmer.

Many dogs, including African wild dogs, hunt in groups called packs. First they spread out, so they have a good view of the landscape, and then they close in on their prey. They keep in contact with barks and body language.

Do dogs use babysitters?

Yes! Jackals in particular live in very close-knit family groups. They share all the jobs. Sometimes a young female jackal is picked to stay at home looking after the cubs while all the other mothers go out hunting.

Amazing! Dogs can’t sweat! Unlike you, dogs don’t have sweat glands, so they can’t lose heat through their skin. They pant when they get hot, to let heat escape from their bodies.

Is it true? Dogs have five toes on each front paw.

Yes. But the African wild dog is the one exception. This fierce hunter is missing a toe on each front foot.

What do pups eat?

Newborn wild pups live off mother’s milk. Soon, their mum brings them meat. She chews it for them, until they’re a bit bigger. Finally at four months old, the pups are old enough to join in the hunt.

The Black Panther, which is really a type of leopard! But if you were brave, or foolish, enough to get close to a panther, you’d see faint spots in its fur.

Who hides in the trees?

Lots of spotted cats, including leopards and jaguars, hide in the trees to take a catnap or lie in wait for their prey. The dappled light through the leaves makes everything look spotted, so their coats are the perfect camouflage.

Amazing! The snow leopard is a champion long-jumper! This rare big cat can clear a 15-metre-wide ditch –that’s over one and a half times further than the human long-jump record.

Is it true? All cats hate the water.

No. Quite a few types of cat enjoy a swim. Jaguars in the South American rainforests often bathe in the River Amazon. They love to snack on river turtles and sometimes even kill crocodiles!

Who hides a feast in the trees?

Sometimes leopards kill such big prey that they can’t eat it all in one go. Leopards can drag a whole deer up into the branches of a tree, safe from jackals and hyenas, which can’t climb up and steal it!

Picture Credit : Google