Are You Ready, Kids? Aye-aye, Captain! Quiz

Answer: Cotton-top tamarin

The cotton-top tamarin has long, swept back hair, which is said to resemble the hairstyle of Franz Liszt, although I doubt he is as small. The tamarins are native to Central and South America.

Answer: Ring-tailed lemur

My favorite advert showed the ring-tailed lemur sheepishly pointing a revolver at the viewer of the ad. From personal experience (both positive and negative), ring-tailed lemurs are gorgeous animals that engage in a rather disgusting territorial tactic: stink fighting. Imagine my surprise when a small family group approached me at Duke University (much like a cat would) and then two males raised their tails and started shooting their stink from glands at each other!

Answer: Howler monkey

The howler monkey's hyoid bone is akin in form and function to the velociraptor "bone" model that Sam Neill carried around with him in "Jurassic Park 3". The howler monkey sends sound through the hyoid and this resonates and increases the vocal power of this very noisy primate.

Answer: Indri

Indri indri is a resident of Madagascar and is my personal favorite primate. Indris like to climb and leap from tree to tree. Size-wise, the indri, when compared to other prosimians, would be similar to the gorilla compared to the other great apes...head and shoulders above the rest.

Answer: Titi

The titis are known for sitting side by side on branches and wrapping their prehensile tails together as a sign of social bonding.

Answer: Symphalangus syndactylus

The siamang is the largest of the gibbons, the so-called lesser apes. The siamang has webbed digits, thus the species name "syndactylus". Most likely, if you have ever seen a larger primate swinging around at the zoo, it would be a member of the gibbon family since the other apes (chimps, gorillas and orangutans) don't swing in the same manner.

Answer: Proboscis monkey

The male proboscis monkey, hailing from Borneo, has a large bulb-like nose that is so large that it extends well past its mouth.

Answer: Uakari

The uakari has a face that only a mother could love. It is a deep, reddish color and they have no hair on top of their head. To top that off, they have a shaggy coat reminiscent of a gorilla costume...

Answer: Macaques

The macaques include the Japanese macaque, rhesus monkeys and the Barbary ape, Europe's only native primate.

Answer: Aye-aye

The aye-aye seems to be the duck-billed platypus of the primates. If you saw one, you would never guess it was a primate. The aye-aye is a native of Madagascar. It uses its specialized middle finger to dig insects out of trees. It would operate similarly to a plumber's snake, bending and turning inside hollow branches. Thanks for taking the time on this quiz and remember, primates of all types are losing their habitats and the number of them on endangered species lists is far too high!