October 29, 2025

The WEIRD Way Monkeys Got to America

4 minutes

To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

Oceanic dispersal: A type of biological dispersal where terrestrial animals transfer from one land mass to another via a sea crossing.

Rafting event: Oceanic dispersal that happens via floating vegetation.

Platyrrhini: The so-called “New World Monkeys” that descended from African simians that arrived in South America roughly 30-40 million years ago.

South Equatorial Current: A current maintained by the trade winds that flows westward along the equator.

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