猴子 Monkey

猴，俗称猴子，是三種類人猿靈長目動物的其中兩種的成員。這三種類包括新世界猴、舊世界猴和猿。新世界猴被分類在小目——闊鼻小目（Platyrrhini）下，舊世界猴（猴總科 Cercopithecoidea）則是狹鼻小目（Catarrhini）的一部分，這個目也包括猿。因此科學上來說，猴並沒有形成一個「自然群組」，舊世界猴實際上也接近猿多過新世界猴。現存並所知的有264種猴。另外由於猿類似猴，黑猩猩、長臂猿等在非正式场合也常被稱為猴，但生物學家並不認為牠們是猴。還有，有些猴種類的名字裡有「猿」，因為牠們是併系群，猴沒有任何顯著的特徵，因為牠們的特徵都是源於類人猿和猿。

Monkeys are haplorhine ("dry-nosed") primates, a group generally possessing tails and consisting of approximately 260 known living species. Many monkey species are tree-dwelling (arboreal), although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Most species are also active during the day (diurnal). Monkeys are generallyconsidered to be intelligent, particularly Old World monkeys.

Lemurs, lorises, and galagos are not monkeys; instead they are strepsirrhine ("wet-nosed") primates. Like monkeys, tarsiers are haplorhine primates; however, they are also not monkeys. There are two major types of monkey: New World monkeys (platyrrhines) from South and Central America and Old World monkeys (catarrhines of the superfamily Cercopithecoidea) from Africa and Asia. Hominoid apes (gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans), which all lack tails, are also catarrhines but are not considered monkeys.^[3] (Tailless monkeys may be called "apes", incorrectly according to modern usage; thus the tailless Barbary macaque is sometimes called the "Barbary ape".) Because Old World monkeys are more closely related to hominoid apes than to New World monkeys, yet the term "monkey" excludes these closer relatives, monkeys are referred to as a paraphyletic group.