ABSTRACT
Comparisons of non-human primates have traditionally contrasted the behavior patterns of New World and Old World monkeys. The size of the area which an organized group of animals customarily occupies, its “home range,” varies widely among the primates. Within the home range of some animal groups is a locus of intensive occupation, or several loci separated from each other by areas that are infrequently traversed. Frank A. Pitelka has pointed out that the fundamental importance of territoriality lies not in the behavior by which an area becomes identified with an individual or group, but in the degree to which the area is used exclusively. Field studies of monkeys and apes suggest a close correlation between ecological adaptation and the morphology and behavior of the species. All terrestrial forms occupy a larger home range, and, in monkeys, the geographic distribution of the species increases according to the degree of terrestrial adaptation.
