The blue monkey or diademed monkey is a species of Old World monkey native to Central and East Africa, ranging from the upper Congo River basin east to the East African Rift and south to northern Angola and Zambia. It sometimes includes the Sykes', silver, and golden monkey as subspecies.
Similar species: Primates
By Ori Fragman Sapir
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Uploaded Dec 5, 2020. Captured Dec 5, 2020 09:05 in Unnamed Road, Rwanda.
comments (7)
How was your trip there, Ori? Posted 4 years ago
What a face! The blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) is endemic to Central and East Africa and lives mostly in the forest canopy of evergreen and montane bamboo forests.
Despite their common name, they are not really blue. Rather, they have a lush, gray pelage, rounded cheeks, and beautifully expressive, almond-shaped eyes. They also have cheek pouches to store food as they forage! They have a diverse diet, which includes lots of fruit. Accordingly, they play an important role in seed dispersal via their excrement.
They are polygynous (one male mates with many females), and mating is initiated by the females, who solicit copulation by presenting their hindquarters to a male. During copulation, females make a pout face, while looking over their shoulders at the male. This must mean something, but hopefully it isn't a reflection of the female's disapproval with the male's copulatory prowess.
Sadly, they are threatened by human encroachment, habitat loss, hunting, and harvest for use in traditional medicine. But, fortunately, they are a very adaptable species and can survive in fragmented forests. Populations are currently safe. {Spotted in Rwanda by JungleDragon moderator, Ori Fragman-Sapir} #JungleDragon #bluemonkey #Rwanda #Cercopithecusmitiskandti
#Cercopithecusmitis
Ori is the scientific director of the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens AND the scientific editor of the “Flora of Israel Online” website! Check out more of his fantastic photos here: https://www.jungledragon.com/user/3333/popular
https://www.facebook.com/jungledragonwildlife Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago