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Black and White Colobus Monkey
Colobus guereza
-3.37511, 36.8398
Field Notes
Description:
The conservation status of the black and white colobus monkey is in danger of extinction. I spotted a number of them hanging on fig trees and eucalyptus trees in a farming village in the Arumeru district of Arusha, Tanzania. Black-and-white colobuses are Old World monkeys native to Africa. The word "colobus" comes from Greek kolobós ("maimed") and is so named because its thumb is a stump. Colobuses are herbivorous, eating leaves, fruit, flowers, and twigs. Unlike other monkeys, they don't drink water so they never have to go to the river or stream to drink where many hunting activities take place. They get their liquids from the fruits they consume and stay above the forest canopy and are rarely seen on the ground or lower tree branches. I believe this is a good defense mechanism for the colobi since they are prey for many forest predators and are threatened by hunting for bushmeat trade and their beautiful fur used in costumes.
Habitat:
Their habitat includes primary and secondary forest, riverine forest, and wooded grasslands; they are found more in higher density logged forests than in other primary forests. Their ruminant-like digestive systems have enabled these leaf-eaters to occupy niches that are inaccessible to other primates.
Colobuses live in territorial groups of approximately nine individuals, based upon a single male with a number of females and their offspring. Newborn colobuses are completely white. There are documented cases of allomothering, which means members of the troop other than the infant's biological mother care for it.
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