Читать книгу Anthropology For Dummies - Cameron M. Smith - Страница 79

The New World (South America) is home to primates as well; they’re members of the parvorder Platyrrhini, meaning “broad-nosed,” as compared to their Old World counterparts discussed in the last section. Shortly after the origin of the primates around 40 million years ago, South America was already sliding away from its previous link with Africa, and riding on it (or perhaps drifting to it on natural rafts of vegetation, purely by accident) were the ancestors of the New World monkeys. They survive into the present and have the following distinctive characteristics:

 Wide nose (compared to the Old World monkeys)

 Dental formula of 2.1.3.3 (an extra premolar)

 Most have a prehensile tail used to grasp tree limbs

 A completely arboreal lifestyle

The New World monkeys include the very loud howler monkey (which scares tourists because the howl sounds like a Hollywood jaguar), the fruit-eating spider monkey (which has a very handy prehensile tail), and the strange little marmosets, which live high in the trees on a diverse diet of insects, fruits, and leaves. Generally speaking, the New World monkeys are somewhat smaller than those of the Old World, with most species averaging about 7 kilograms (about 15 pounds).