# Do Monkey and Apes Sweat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818 "2008-11-28T18:02:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818/1 "2008-11-28T18:02:19Z")
I know… what a stupid question! A friend and I were talking this morning about monkeys ‘picking fleas’ off one another, the shared grooming thing, and she casually said they might be eating the salt off one nother from sweat, which got me to wondering. Do they sweat like humans, all over, or are they more like dogs? No real reason to ask, just curious! ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818/2 "2008-11-28T18:36:49Z")
I’m going to guess that, being all from the same tree, they sweat. Although, buried in hair, don’t know how useful it is. I’ve never noticed other animals sweating, except for horses. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818/3 "2008-11-28T18:47:57Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I’m going to guess that, being all from the same tree, they sweat. Although, buried in hair, don’t know how useful it is. > > I’ve never noticed other animals sweating, except for horses. Dogs do sweat, on the pads of their feet. I show dogs, and it is common to see little sweaty paw prints on the black rubber matting when they have been standing in one position. You don’t see monkeys and apes panting, either, so that’s another sigh of sweating, to me! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818/4 "2008-11-28T19:05:04Z")
Humans are much better at sweating than other apes, but other apes apparently do sweat, particularly around the armpits: > **[Growing Young](https://books.google.com/books?id=EoTXLpEX-h4C&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=ape%2Bsweat%2Bglands&source=web&ots=mSKZYeEUY2&sig=OBgFJ4Ikgm9H9RhREH6MyJjLiYM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result)** > > In this new, revised edition of his landmark book, Montagu compels us to reevaluate the way we think about growth and development, in all its phases, throughout life. Humans are designed to grow and develop their childlike qualities, and not to... ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818/5 "2008-11-28T19:50:41Z")
Not only do they sweat but they don’t wash. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818/6 "2008-11-28T23:59:15Z")
> [@bup](#): > > [Growing Young - Ashley Montagu - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=EoTXLpEX-h4C&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=ape+sweat+glands&source=web&ots=mSKZYeEUY2&sig=OBgFJ4Ikgm9H9RhREH6MyJjLiYM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result) The book mentions apes having 2 kinds of sweat glands like us as well. Gorillas are supposed to smell kind of “rubbery” when they get nervous, presumably due to secretions from their apocrine sweat glands. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818/7 "2008-11-29T02:48:53Z")
This is all really interesting! I knew I could count on the Dopers for answers! ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-monkey-and-apes-sweat/474818/8 "2008-11-29T13:34:22Z")
> [@mmmiiikkkeee](#): > > The book mentions apes having 2 kinds of sweat glands like us as well. Do the two smell different?