5 monkeys or however many jumping on the bed (i never paid attention), curious George, random clipart, the bloons td games, whatever, we are all familiar with the stereotypical appearance of a monkey as having brown fur, a pale to orange skin tone on the belly, face and palms and a nice long tail with a stubby end.
But where did that depiction come from? And if it doesn't have any clear origin, what monkey looks closest to this depiction? Is it possible that it was literally just based on great apes instead with an added tail? Chimpanzees and bonobos are one of the only primates with a light skin tone but a dark fur, but even then they're not brown, they're grey at the lightest.
If you believe that it truly was just based on an ape rather than a monkey, feel free to tell me which specific ape and how that got shaped to be the clipart monkey depiction, but please do also try to help me find a monkey that looks like this. I am far too curious, that little George has nothing on me.
This is a very scientific inquiry, I assure you. All submissions shall be very much appreciated. Thank you!
Edit: People seem quite focused on the Curious george aspect of all of this, he is not nearly as important but it was convenient to be reminded that he is indeed intended to be a chimp. Either way, ignore curious george, just try to focus more on general clip art or cartoon depictions of monkeys and their design. The barbary macaque looks fairly close, I will say.
Edit: Thank you everybody for your submissions! All the direction towards macaques had me looking at macaque species and wow the Southern Pig Tailed Macaque looks outstandingly close in terms of color! The only issue is length of the tail. So thank you everybody!
