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| A monkey is a member of either of two of the three groupings
of simian primates. These three groupings are the New World
monkeys, the Old World monkeys, and the apes. The New World
monkeys are classified within the parvorder Platyrrhini, whereas
the Old World monkeys (superfamily Cercopithecoidea) form part
of the parvorder Catarrhini, which also includes the apes. Thus,
scientifically speaking, monkeys do not form a "natural group",
in that the Old World monkeys are actually more closely related
to the apes than they are to the New World species. There are
264 known extant species of monkey. Because of their similarity
to monkeys, apes such as chimpanzees and gibbons are often
called monkeys in informal usage, though biologists don't
consider them to be monkeys. Conversely, due to its size (up to
1 metre) the Mandrill is often thought to be an ape, but it is
actually an Old World monk