I’m African American (Yes, AFRICAN… Nigerian roots, born in USA).
I have often been called and referred to as a monkey presumably because of my dark shade of skin.
Now, does a monkey also have dark skin like we Africans and is that how we resemble monkeys? Because, if anything a hairy white man would more closely resemble most monkeys … white skin, black hair.
That’s just a sidebar. But really, just to keep the topic light (pun intended), what color is a monkey’s skin?
Monkeys have skin just like other animals with fur. The skin is pale, because the hair protects the skin, and so there no need for melanine to protect the skin. I think our ancestors had more hair than us. As they started to lose hair, those who stayed under hot sun would develop more pigment than those who stayed in cold climate.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
I’m gonna take a guess and say it’s the same color as their faces, so it varies between species. gorillas probably have black skin, while something like a macaque would have white skin.
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February 15th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Monkeys have skin just like other animals with fur. The skin is pale, because the hair protects the skin, and so there no need for melanine to protect the skin. I think our ancestors had more hair than us. As they started to lose hair, those who stayed under hot sun would develop more pigment than those who stayed in cold climate.
References :
February 16th, 2010 at 12:07 am
Depends on the monkey, but all the ones that I can think of right at the moment have skin about the same color as mine — lightly tanned, a little darker than the traditional white man (see my avatar), but not nearly as dark as yours.
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