Black-and-white colobus

Black-and-white colobus[1]
Mantled guereza (Colobus guereza)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Family:	Cercopithecidae
Subfamily:	Colobinae
Genus:	Colobus Illiger, 1811
Type species
Simia polycomos Schreber, 1800 (Cebus polykomos Zimmermann, 1780)
Species
Colobus satanas Colobus angolensis Colobus polykomos Colobus vellerosus Colobus guereza

Black-and-white colobuses (or colobi) are Old World monkeys of the genus Colobus, native to Africa. They are closely related to the brown colobus monkeys of genus Piliocolobus.^[1] The word "colobus" comes from Greek κολοβός kolobós ("docked"), and is so named because in this genus, the thumb is a stump. Colobuses are herbivorous, eating leaves, fruit, flowers, and twigs. Their habitats include primary and secondary forests, riverine forests, 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 about nine individuals, based upon a single male with a number of females and their offspring. Newborn colobuses are completely white. Cases of allomothering are documented, which means members of the troop other than the infant's biological mother care for it.

Colobuses are important for seed dispersal through their sloppy eating habits, as well as through their digestive systems. They are prey for many forest predators, and are threatened by hunting for the bushmeat trade, logging, and habitat destruction.

There are five species of this monkey, with at least eight subspecies:^[1]

• Genus Colobus
  • Black colobus, C. satanas
    • Gabon black colobus, C. s. anthracinus
    • Bioko black colobus, C. s. satanas
  • Angola colobus, C. angolensis
    • Sclater’s Angola colobus, C. a. angolensis
    • Powell-Cotton’s Angola colobus, C. a. cottoni
    • Adolf Friedrichs’s Angola colobus, or Ruwenzori black-and-white colobus, C. a. ruwenzorii
    • Cordier’s Angola colobus, C. a. cordieri
    • Prigogine's Angola colobus, C. a. prigoginei
    • Peters's Angola colobus or Tanzanian black-and-white colobus, C. a. palliatus
  • King colobus, C. polykomos
  • Ursine colobus, C. vellerosus
  • Mantled guereza or Abyssinian black-and-white colobus, C. guereza^[2]

Angolan black-and-white colobus (Colobus angolensis) seen in Tanzania.

References

1. Groves, C.P. (2005). Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 167–168. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
2. Wolfheim, J. H. (1983). Primates Of The World: Distribution, Abundance And Conservation. Routledge. ISBN 3-7186-0190-7.

External links

• Colobus Monkey: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
• Colobus Conservation
• Primate Info Net Colobus Factsheets
• Angolan Black & White Colobus
• Animal Bytes