New World Monkeys

I have a lot of family members across the southern

area of the world. Some of them live in Mexico, Central,
and South America. Ever since we moved from Africa,
we have separated and went our own ways. Since we
went so many different ways, we don’t look like each
other anymore.

My cousins are changing sizes a lot, some are really

short while some are pretty tall. My cousin the Pygmy
Marmoset, is the shortest of us all at only 14
centimeters tall. He lives in the rainforest of South
America. While my other cousin, the Southern muriqui
in brazil and is over 2 feet tall!

Sadly, we all have eye problems. Were not able to tell

colors apart through red, green, and blue like from our
origins, the Old World Monkeys. Males and females
aren’t able to tell colors apart. Some of our sisters are
actually able to see through trichromatic vision, but
only if they have a certain mutation.

I and my cousins have all different shapes, diets, and

looks. We eat leaves, fruits, nuts, gums, and
occasionally prey on insects. There is 53 total type of
Callitrichidae family
us and most likely will be more in the future. All of us
have soft (or at least looks soft) hair.
 Today, we are divided into two families: Cebidae and Callitrichidae;

In the Callitrichidae family, we have Marmosets and Tamarins which are the smallest
types of us. Only ranging from 5 - 32 oz., which you could easily hold them in one hand.
As babies, we spend most of our time on our fathers’ back. We like to eat tree sap the
most. We are able to survive in this climate by being really fast and limber. We can
outrun a predator easily.

The Cebidae family on the other hand is far more heavy and territorial. We like to yell at
potential enemies. We have nails on all of our fingers and toes. Howler Monkeys protect
their area with their deep throat screams that scare away enemies. Most of us have
developed either stronger muscles for attacking or louder calls to scare off predators.

The diversification of brain morphology is one of the most important features of primate
adaptive radiation and it decides how primates will survive in the future. Primates are
part of adaptive radiation by adapting to whatever climate they are put into slowly. New
world monkeys are widely around tropical forests which let them grow to be more
limber and/or territorial.

Cebidae family
 Sources

Dunn, J. C. (2016). New World Monkeys | Learn Science at Scitable. The

Nature. https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/new-world-
monkeys-148121150/?error=cookies_not_supported&code=63f05f6e-f469-
4f55-bf79-dc61c715a2c4

O’ Neil, D. (no date). The Primates: New World Monkeys. The Primates.
https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/primate/prim_5.htm

Aristide, L (July 22, 2015) Brain shape convergence in the adaptive radiation of
New World monkeys. PNAS
https://www.pnas.org/content/113/8/2158#:~:text=New%20World%20monke
ys%20or%20platyrrhines,diversity%20(17%2C%2018).