Monkeys are herbivorous animals that are mostly found on trees. Many people wish to know what do monkeys eat. A common man knows that a monkey eats banana, but other than this fruit what do they like to eat. Monkeys are found in this world in more than hundred different varieties with different tails. If you wish to answer to the question what do monkeys eat, then the monkeys that belong to all the regions of the world should be taken into consideration. Monkeys love to eat variety of fruits (ripe fruits) and vegetables that are available to them. They are also known to eat small insects, eggs and leaves. Wild monkeys rely on seeds and bark of the trees. They also like honey. The food differs from the monkeys in the zoo to those which live in forest. Monkeys living in zoos are fed many varieties of foods like cereals, bananas, bread, vegetables and lettuce.

Monkeys are the interesting animals besides being intelligent and possessing specific food habits. They love to eat light foods like fruits because they can be easily digested. Some of the varieties known to us in monkeys are baboons which are found in Cameroon and Congo. Mandrill is said to be the largest monkey bearing a colorful fur on its body. This male monkey (omnivorous) weighs up to sixty pounds where as female weighs only thirty pounds.  Grey bellied night monkey is another variety which is found in South America. Pigmy marmoset variety is found in Brazil and is said to be the smallest monkey found in this world. Monkeys belong to primate family. Some of the other varieties found are Capuchin monkeys, New world monkeys, American monkeys,Bald Uakari, spider monkey,macaques, Japanese monkey,etc.

Monkeys living in rainforests depend on coconuts for food. Many of the monkeys that we see today are plant eaters and they never like to take poultry foods but only very few species eat them. The life span of a monkey is around thirty to forty years on an average depending upon the living conditions. Most of the monkeys swing from one branch to another and few of the varieties run along the branches of the top of the tree. These monkeys mostly eat their food when they climb from one branch to another. They use their feet and hands to carry on this job. Apes are not considerd as monkeys because they fall under different category. We often find monkeys eating lice which is said to be one of the grooming habit.