Fruit-mad South American monkeys eat 50 varieties a day

Researchers say that some monkeys in South and Central America eat as many as 50 different species of fruit a day.

A team from the University of East Anglia said that primate size and diet are closely connected.

They found that mid-sized species including Saki monkeys were the biggest fruit consumers.

Larger primates including Woolly Spider monkeys were more likely to eat leaves and foliage, they said.

The research has been published in the journal Oikos.

The scientists pulled together data from 290 studies of diets in primates in Central and South America spanning 42 years.