A primate is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes. Primates are found all over the world. Primates occur mostly in Central and South America, Africa, and southern Asia. A few species exist as far north in the Americas as southern Mexico, and as far north in Asia as northern Japan.

 

The Primates order is divided informally into three main groupings: prosimians, monkeys of the New World and monkeys and apes of the Old World. The prosimians are species whose bodies most closely resemble that of the early proto-primates. The most well known of the prosimians, the lemurs, are located on the island of Madagascar and to a lesser extent on the Comoros Islands, isolated from the rest of the world. The New World monkeys include the familiar capuchin, howler, and squirrel monkeys.