The Sunday News
GREEN monkeys occur throughout the Northern and Southern Savanna, from Senegal to Sudan and south to the tip of South Africa. They are adapted to practically all wooded habitats outside the equatorial rainforest.
The top side fur of the green monkey varies by species from pale yellow through grey-green brown to dark brown, while the lower portion and the hair ring around the face is whitish-yellow. Their face, hands and feet are hairless and black, although their abdominal skin is bluish. Male green monkeys have a bright blue scrotum and red penis.
Green monkeys reach an adult size of 40 to 43 centimetres for males and 34 to 39 centimetres for females, with a tail measuring 30 to 50 centimetres long. Males weigh from four to 4,5 kilogrammes and females weigh from 2,5 to 3,5 kilogrammes. Their tails are well developed and are used for balance. Green monkeys are also good swimmers. Both female and male green monkeys have long, sharp canines.
Green monkeys are diurnal being most active in the early morning and late afternoon. Green monkeys are territorial animals, however, they generally avoid serious conflicts (defend with loud barking and displays). They are mainly ground dwellers, however, they take shelter in the trees when alarmed and they also sleep in trees.
Green monkeys are usually found in groups of 20-50 individuals. Social structure is similar to other old World monkeys in that the stable core of any group consists of several families of closely related adult females and their dependent offspring.
Females stay in the natal group, males transfer to a neighbouring group at adolescence. To minimise aggression from the transferred-to group, many males transfer in the company of age mates or maternal brothers.
Male green monkeys transfer from group to group several times during their lives. Young females serve as temporary caretakers of their mothers’ subsequent offspring. As a result, bonds are formed not only between mother and offspring but also among maternal siblings. Adult males interact only rarely with infants and show no special preference for those infants that are likely to be their offspring.
Green monkeys have a creaking cry and a staccato bark that enables members of a troop to keep in contact. Green monkeys have a variety of alarm calls, distinguishing between avian, snake or mammalian predators. Grooming removes parasites and dead skin, but the primary function is to establish and maintain social bonds.
Being small and not fast runners, the green monkey cannot afford to venture far from the safety of trees. It is essentially an edge species and typically associated with riverside forests, however, in the dry savanna, they stay near the acacia trees. Green monkeys are omnivores; mostly eating fruits, flowers, seeds, seedpods, leaves, grasses and roots and on occasion, birds, eggs, small reptiles and insects.
Green monkeys breed throughout the year, however, most births happen just before the rainy season, so that lactation proceeds when food and water are more abundant. Gestation lasts 163 days. Green monkeys reach sexual maturity at the age of four to five years. Females give birth to a single offspring.
At birth green monkey infants have little fur, this is why they seem to have a blue colour. Its coat has specks of olive green and yellow. As the infant matures and becomes more independent, he/she will stray from its mother, being carried only when the troop moves or when danger threatens. As the monkey develops, its fur thickens and becomes a brownish-grey colour. The life span of a green monkey is 17 years in the wild and up to 30 years in captivity.
Although green monkeys are not listed as endangered or vulnerable, numbers are declining because of destruction of forest habitat and excessive hunting by people. Potential predators of the green monkeys include lions, leopards. — animal corner
