Monkeys
A monkey is a primate there are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent.
Monkey has two old world monkeys and new world monkeys. The New World monkeys are classified within old world monkeys whereas the Old World monkeys are more closely related to hominoids (apes, including humans) than they are to New World monkeys.
Monkeys range in size from the pygmy marmoset, which can be as small as 117 millimeter with a 172-millimetre tail and just over 100 grams in weight unlike Black Gorilla without a tail ,and largest in the world . They weigh more than 225 kg and higher than 1.83 meters , they are found in the forests of eastern Zaire in Africa .Estimated that only about 5000 left in the wild now.
The many species of monkey have relationships with humans. Some are kept as pets, others used as model organisms in laboratories. The use of monkeys in laboratories is controversial. Animal rights activists claim that their use is cruel and produces little information of value. Others claim that it has led to many important medical breakthroughs such as the rabies vaccine, understanding of human reproduction and basic knowledge about brain function and that the prevention of harm to humans should be a higher priority than the possible harm done to monkeys. The topic has become a popular cause for animal rights and animal welfare.
Monkey brains are eaten as a delicacy in parts of South Asia, Africa and China. In traditional Islamic dietary laws, the eating of monkeys is forbidden. However, monkeys are sometimes eaten in parts of Africa, where they can be sold as "bush meat".
Hanuman, a prominent divine entity in Hinduism, is a Human-like monkey god. He bestows courage, strength and longevity to the person who thinks about him or the god Rama.
In Buddhism, the monkey is an early incarnation of Buddha but may also represent trickery and ugliness. The Chinese Buddhist "mind monkey" metaphor refers to the unsettled, restless state of human mind. The Monkey is the ninth in the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The next time that the monkey will appear as the zodiac sign will be in the year 2016.