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Peru is home to 32 species of primates, distributed in three main
families which classify the primates of the New World: Callitrichids,
which include species such as pichicos and leoncillos; Callimiconids,
represented by a single species (Goeldi's false pichico);
and Cebids, the largest family, which includes squirrel monkeys,
spider monkeys, howler monkeys, machin, tocon, musmuqui and
choro amongst others.
Monkeys found in the Americas stand out from those found in
the Old World in a number of physical traits which are the
result of adapting to the tropical environments where they
live. The most obvious and visible feature is the shape of
the nose (monkeys in the Americas have long noses, with wide
nasal openings on each side and a curved point pointing downwards,
while those in the Old World have flat, broad, egg-shaped
noses.
In northern Peru, the white machin blanco inhabits some parts
of the western slopes of the northern Andes (departments of
Piura and Tumbes), while the Tumbes howler monkey lives exclusively
in the Pacific Tropical Rainforest.
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