Prehistoric Biology Atlas 380 - Middle Monkey

The difference between Old World monkeys such as apes and humans and New World monkeys is that their nostrils are a whole, and facing downwards, a bony ear canal leads from the outside to the ear drum, and the most basic is that a pair of premolars are missing.

These monkeys belong to the macaque family and are the largest and most primitive species in the narrow-nosed family, including the extant long-tailed monkeys, baboons, macaques, lion-tailed monkeys and colobus monkeys. Previously, their fossil record only existed in the past 10 million years, but now a 15 million-year-old fossil has been found in Kenya, possibly the ancestor of the macaque family, called the Victorian monkey, thus linking these narrow-nosed species to earlier Egyptian apes.

Old World monkeys have unturnable tails and can become much shorter or even disappear, especially for terrestrial species. However, for arboreal animals, the tail has a great role, because it can improve balance and even assist in changing direction during jumping.

Name: Medium Monkey

Age: Late Miocene to Evening Cenozoic

Location: Europe (Greece) and Asia (Asia Minor)

Size: Length 40 cm

The middle monkey is a typical early macaque, and similar to the living macaque may be the ancestor of the living langur. It has a slender trunk, long and muscular legs on its forelimbs and hind legs, and long and agile fingers and toes. Its limbs, like those of modern macaques, were used to walk on the ground and climb trees, indicating that the environment was quite open at the time.

The middle monkeys lie out day and night, feeding on leaves and soft fruits.