Why Monkey and Apes Have Colorful Faces

Have you ever wondered why monkeys and apes have such colorful faces? Primate species live in complex social groups, and experts think that monkeys and apes use facial recognition as a way to recognize all the members of their group.

Have you ever wondered why monkeys and apes have such colorful faces?

Primate species live in complex social groups, and experts think that monkeys and apes use facial features as a way to recognize all the members of their group.

Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles or UCLA compared the complexity of facial traits across different primate species and put that data alongside information about group size and certain habitat factors to see if there was any correlation.

Michael Alfaro, an evolutionary biologist at UCLA who led the study said: "Faces are really important to how monkeys and apes can tell one another apart. We think the color patterns have to do both with the importance of telling individuals of your own species apart from closely related species and for social communication among members of the same species."

Results of the study show that Old World monkeys and apes in Africa and Asia living in larger groups have more facial diversity than those living in smaller social groups.

However, a previous study found that for New World monkeys living in Central and South America, the opposite is true and species living in larger groups had more similar faces.