COMMON NAME: Black-and-white colobus
SWAHILI NAME: Mbega
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Colobus guereza
TYPE: Mammals
FOOD: Herbivores (Acacia leaves at the apex of the tree)
HABITAT: Lowland, montane forests, and gallery forests
SIZE: 75 centimeters long (2.5 feet)
AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE NATURAL HABITAT: 20 years
ACTIVE: Day
GESTATION PERIOD: 4 to 6 months
WEIGHT: 7.8-13.5 kg (17 lb – 30 lb)
Black and white Colobus Monkey
About the Black-and-white colobus
Eastern Black-and-white Colobus of the genus Colobus is often classified as a member of the old world monkeys. A native Africa but predominantly distributed to much of East and Western of Africa. In East Africa, the Black and White Colobus Monkey is found Tanzania’s Arusha national park, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and other parts of Africa like Chad, Cameroun, Equitorial Guinea, and Nigeria.
The Colobus Monkey Hands, Thumb and Tail
The Meaning of the name “colobus” comes from the Greek word for “mutilated,” because unlike other primates and monkeys to be specific, colobus monkeys do not have thumbs on their elongated hand. These long hands help them to move seamlessly from tree to tree. They are characterized by their beautiful black fur that stands out from their long white mantle, whiskers, beard around the face and a silky yet long, bushy tail.
The Black and White Colobus Monkey is a social colobine that can live in groups numbering up to fifteen solid members.
The Black and White Colobus Monkey is spends most of its life in trees, but does sometimes can be found on the ground travelling, grooming and looking for food.
The Eastern Black and White vs Angolan Black and White Colobus Monkey
The Eastern black-and-white Colobus Monkey is uniquely identified by a U-shaped cape of white hair running from the shoulders to lower back, while the Angolan black-and-white Colobus Monkey has white hairs sticking out only at the shoulders.
The brown colobus monkeys of genus Piliocolobus are the closest cousins to the Black and white Colobus Monkey of the genus Colobus. The word “colobus” came as a result of the Monkeys thumb that is mutilated coming from the Greek κολοβός kolobós that means docked.
Behavior, Habitat, and Diet of the Black and White Colobus
The main diet of the Black and white colobus consists of leaves, fruit, flowers, and twigs hence they are herbivores and they spend most of their lives on trees. They make both primary and secondary forests, and wooded grasslands their homes although they prefer more dense logged forests than any other primary forests.
Black and White Colobus Monkeys live in groups of about nine individuals in a territory often dictated by a single alpha male ruling over a number of females and their young ones. When a baby colobus is born, it is usually white in colour and it is the responsibility of all the female members of a group to take care of young ones not only the mother.
Adaptation to the environment
Black and White Colobus monkeys have adapted ruminant-like digestive systems have enabled these leaf-eaters to occupy places that are not accessible and favourable to other primates and competitors in the food chain.
The complex digestive system of the Colobus Monkey allows it to consume more mature foliage that can be toxic to other animals. There are quite lightweight in mass as compared to other primates due to their light bone structure and elongated limbs that allow it to move easily and seamlessly through their habitats.
The importance of the Black and White Colobus Monkeys is to disperse seeds through their sloppy eating habits, as the seeds are not digested hence they are passed down as stools and this helps to spread seeds naturally.
Predators and Dangers Facing the Black and White Colobus Population
The Black and White Colobus Monkeys sometimes fall prey to many forest predators like leopards but the biggest threat facing them is illegal hunting for their meat and skins, deforestation (illegal logging), and habitat destruction by humans for settlement.
The best place to see the Black and White Colobus Monkey
In Tanzania, the best place to see the Black and White Colobus is at the Arusha National park in Northern Tanzania. Also known as the Kikuyu Colobus in Kenya, they can be found in rainforests around the Ngong Escarpment, Mount Kenya, and the Aberdare Mountain Range in. In East Africa, they live in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, which is on the Easter Side of Africa.