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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
Eastern
black & white colobus, guereza |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Mammalia |
| ORDER: |
Primates |
| FAMILY: |
Cercopithecidae |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Colobus
(docked; they have very small thumbs, giving the
appearance of being cut off) guereza (named
for researcher) |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
A
small monkey with a U-shaped mantle of long white
fur that descends from its shoulders and around
its back. White fur surrounds their black face. |
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| SIZE: |
|
| MALE |
Head
and body length = 675 mm (26.6 in)
Tail length = 667 mm (26.3 in) |
| FEMALE |
Head
and body length = 615 mm (24.2 in)
Tail length = 687 mm (27.0 in) |
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| WEIGHT: |
|
| MALE |
13.5
kg (29.8 pds) |
| FEMALE |
7.9-9.2
kg (17.4 - 20.3 pds) |
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| DIET: |
Herbivorous;
leaves, fruit, flowers, twigs |
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| GESTATION: |
Approximately
6 months |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
4-6
years |
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| LIFE
SPAN: |
Average
approximately 22 years |
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| RANGE: |
Africa
from West Nigeria to East Tanzania and Northern
Ethiopia |
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| HABITAT: |
Primary
and secondary forest, riverine forest, wooded grasslands;
found at higher density logged forest than other
primary forests |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
Unknown |
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| STATUS: |
IUCN |
Not
listed |
| CITES |
Appendix
II |
| USFWS |
Not
listed |
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|
| 1. |
Baby
colobus' are born completely white. |
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| 2. |
Ruminant-like
digestive system has enabled leaf-eaters, such as
colobus', to occupy niches that are inaccessible
to other primates. |
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|
| 3. |
They
live in territorial groups of approximately nine
individuals, based upon a single male with a number
of female and their offspring. |
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|
| 4. |
The
Old World monkeys of the subfamily Colobinae have
a specially adapted stomach that is sacculated and
supports bacterial colonies. These bacteria make
it possible for digestion of cellulose in their
diet of leaves, unripe fruit, and seeds. |
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|
| 5. |
There
are documented cases of "allo" mothering,
which means members of the troop other than the
infant's biological mother care for it. |
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|
| 6. |
The
differences between monkeys and apes are easy to
see once you know what to look for. Apes do not
have a tail and are generally larger than most other
primates. They have a more upright body posture
as well. Apes rely more on vision than on smell
and have a short broad nose rather than a snout,
as Old World monkeys do. |
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|
| 7. |
Old
World monkeys are generally from Africa and Asia
while New World monkeys are from the Americas. In
Old World monkeys, the nostrils face downward and
are narrow. New World monkeys have round nostrils
facing to the side. Old World primates are usually
larger than New World's. Many of the Old World monkeys
are partly terrestrial. |
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Colobus
are important for seed dispersal through their
sloppy eating habits as well as through their
digestive system. In addition, they are prey for
many forest predators.
Colobus
struggle from the bushmeat trade, logging, and
habitat destruction. In Africa, forest is often
referred to as 'the bush', thus wildlife and the
meat derived from it is referred to as 'bushmeat'.
This term applies to all wildlife species, including
threatened and endangered, used for meat. Unfortunately,
nearly all African primates fall victim to the
trade.
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| |
|
|
| Anderson,
Sydney. 1982. Simon and Schuster's Guide to Mammals.
Simon and Schuster, New York. |
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| Estes,
DE. 1992. The behavior guide to African mammals.
Univ. Of Calif. Press. Berkley, CA. |
|
|
Preston-Mafham,
Rod and Ken. 1999. Primates of the world.
Sterling Pub., New York.
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| Rowe,
Noel. 1996. The pictorial guide to the living
primates. Pogonios Press, NY. |
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| Bushmeat
Crisis Task Force. www.bushmeat.org |
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| Chaffee
Zoo. www.chaffeezoo.org |
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| Lincoln
Park Zoo. www.lpzoo.com |
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