Emperor Tamarin

NEW WORLD VS. OLD WORLD MONKEYS
Monkeys are members of the order primates which also includes humans, apes and prosimians. There are about 264 known monkey species in the world, all of which are considered either “new world monkeys” or “old world monkeys.” The difference is partly geographical, partly physiological. New world monkeys - like the squirrel monkey and the howler monkey - come from central & south america, usually prehensile tails (long tails used as a "fifth hand"), and tend to have flatter noses with side-facing nostrils. Old world monkeys - like the colobus and the mandrill - come from africa and asia, have non-prehensile tails, and tend to have narrower noses with the nostrils facing forward.

MONKEY CHARACTERISTICS
All primates including monkeys have five fingers with finger nails. They can range in size from 6 inches all the way up to 3 ft. Their weights also vary with some weighing only 5 ounces to some weighing as much as 75 pounds. Most monkey species share a similar diet consisting of fruit, leaves, seeds, nuts, flowers, insects, spiders, eggs and small animals. All monkeys have forward facing eyes like apes, but other features such as noses, cheeks, and rumps are drastically different. Most monkeys spend their time in the trees of rain forests, mangrove forests, and mountain forests.

Olive Baboon, Source: US Fish and Wildlife

MONKEY NEIGHBORS
These forested areas provide interesting habitat for the monkeys including interaction with some out-of-this-world neighbors like the Pacu fish. The Pacu fish, which was featured on Wild Florida: Monkeys, is a South American freshwater fish wih a narrow, plate-shaped body that resembles a piranha . However, they differ from piranhas because they have blunt teeth used for eating plants, rather than meat. A particular type of pacu called the Black pacu is found in Brazil and may grow to more than 3 feet and weigh over 65 pounds.

Resources for this article have been provided by Wikipedia.