Red colobus monkeys

Red colobus monkeys
Zanzibar colobus monkey ( Piliocolobus kirkii )
Systematics
Old World Monkey (Catarrhini) Superfamily : Tailed Old World Monkey (Cercopithecoidea) Family : Vervet monkey relatives (Cercopithecidae) Subfamily : Common monkeys and colobus monkeys (Colobinae) Tribe : Colobini monkeys Genre : Red colobus monkeys
Scientific name
Piliocolobus
Rochebrune , 1887

The red colobus monkeys ( Piliocolobus ) are a genus of primates from the group of the colobus monkeys within the family of the vervet monkeys (Cercopithecidae).

description

Red colobus monkeys usually have a black or brown back fur, the arms, legs and the head are red or grayish. The underside of their body is reddish yellow to gray or white. Some species have white hair around their heads. The females are smaller than the males, but otherwise look the same. Like all colobus monkeys, they are characterized by the lack of a thumb , which is an adaptation to the tree-dwelling way of life. The animals reach a head body length of 45 to 67 centimeters, the tail is 52 to 80 centimeters long, and their weight is 5 to 11 kilograms.

distribution and habitat

Red colobus monkeys are widespread in central Africa , their range extends from Senegal via the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Tanzania . Their habitat is rainforest and swamp forest, sometimes also tree-lined savannahs, mostly they stay near water.

Way of life

Temminck colobus monkey

These animals are diurnal tree dwellers who, like trained acrobats, jump from tree to tree while searching for food. They form larger groups of 20 to 80 (on average 50) animals that consist of several males and around two to three times as many females. Within the group they establish a distinctive ranking, which is reflected in preferred access to food and sleeping places as well as priority in mating. They are less territorial, but in view of the larger groups they also have larger territories (up to over 100 hectares) than the black and white colobus monkeys .

The diet of these animals consists mainly of young leaves, fruits, seeds, shoots and other parts of plants.

Reproduction

Red colobus monkeys should not know a specific breeding season, they can mate all year round. The gestation period is around 4.5 to 5.5 months, after which a young is usually born. In contrast to the black and white colobus monkeys, only the mother and not other females are responsible for raising the young. After a gestation period of 4 to 6 months, the mother gives birth to a cub, which she raises all by herself until it is weaned after 9 to 12 months.

threat

Due to the ongoing destruction of their habitat and the hunting of their meat for their meat, all species of the red colobus monkeys are endangered animals.

Systematics

Preliminary phylogenetic classification of the red colobus monkeys
Piliocolobus    West African colobus monkey  ( Piliocolobus badius ) and  Temminck colobus monkey  ( P. temminckii )      Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey ( P. waldronae )      Preuss colobus monkey ( P. preussi )      Pennant colobus monkey ( P. pennantii )      Lomami colobus monkey ( P. parmentieri )      Oustalet colobus monkey ( P. oustaleti ) (West)      Oustalet colobus monkey ( P. oustaleti ) (east)      Luvua colobus monkey ( P. foai )      Ugandan colobus monkey ( P. tephrosceles )      Tana colobus monkey ( P. rufomitratus )      Udzungwa colobus monkey ( P. gordonorum )      Zanzibar colobus monkey ( P. kirkii )      Niger delta colobus monkey ( Piliocolobus epieni )      Green colobus monkey ( Procolobus verus )

The system within the colobus monkeys has not been fully clarified. While the red colobus monkeys used to be included in the genus Procolobus with the green colobus monkeys , today they are usually listed as a separate genus Piliocolobus . The number of species is also unclear, as numerous subspecies are increasingly being managed as separate species. Mittermeier, Rylands & Wilson (2013) distinguish the following 17 types:

• The West African colobus monkey ( Piliocolobus badius ) lives in West Africa (from Senegal to Ghana).
• The Bouvier's colobus monkey ( Piliocolobus bouvieri ) occurs only in a small area on the right bank of the Congo in the Republic of the Congo.
• The Niger Delta Colobus monkey ( Piliocolobus epieni ) is endemic to the western part of the Niger Delta.
• The Luvua colobus monkey ( P. foai ) is native to the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• The Udzungwa colobus monkey ( P. gordonorum ) inhabits the Udzungwa Mountains and neighboring areas in Tanzania.
• The Zanzibar colobus monkey ( P. kirkii ) is endemic to the Zanzibar archipelago.
• The Lualaba colobus monkey ( P. langi ) lives in a small area in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• The Oustalet colobus monkey ( P. oustaleti ) occurs in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between the Congo and Ubangi .
• The Lomami colobus monkey ( P. parmentieri ) lives in a small area in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• The Pennant colobus monkey ( P. pennantii ) is endemic to the Equatorial Guinean island of Bioko .
• The Preuss colobus monkey ( P. preussi ) lives in Cameroon near the border with Nigeria.
• The tana colobus monkey ( P. rufomitratus ), which only inhabits a small area along the Tana River in Kenya, is considered critically endangered.
• The Semliki colobus monkey ( P. semlikiensis ) lives on the right bank of the Semliki in a small area in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• The Temminck colobus monkey ( P. temminckii ) occurs in Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.
  

  Distribution areas of the Central African species,
  green Oustalet colobus monkey,
  orange Thollon colobus monkey,
  red Lualaba colobus monkey,
  yellow Lomami colobus monkey,
  pink Luvua colobus monkey,
  dark blue in the circle of the Semliki colobus,
  purple in the rectangle Bouvier colobus,
  gray hybridization area
• The Uganda colobus monkey ( P. tephrosceles ) is native to Uganda and neighboring countries.
• The Thollon's colobus monkey ( P. tholloni ) lives in the central part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey ( P. waldronae ) may already be extinct or threatened with extinction and has survived with a few specimens in the southeast corner of Ivory Coast.

In Ituri Rainforest there is a larger region in which the population of red colobus of hybrids is the Semliki colobus monkeys with the Oustalet-colobus monkeys and the Lualaba-colobus monkeys. Another form of the red colobus monkey, the systematic status of which has not yet been clarified, occurs in the Kahuzi-Biéga National Park in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

literature

• Thomas Geissmann: Comparative Primatology . Springer, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-540-43645-6 .
• Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 (English).
• Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World . A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nelson Ting: Molecular systematics of red colobus monkeys ( Procolobus [Piliocolobus] ): Understanding the evolution of an endangered primate. PhD thesis, City University of New York, 2008, New York.
2. ^ Russell A. Mittermeier , Anthony B. Rylands & Don E. Wilson : Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Primates: 3rd page 704-712, ISBN 978-8496553897
3. ↑ Elizabeth L. Gadsby, Colin P. Groves, Aoife Healy, K. Praveen Karanth, Sanjay Molur, Tilo Nadler, Matthew C. Richardson, Erin P. Riley, Anthony B. Rylands, Lori K. Sheeran, Nelson Ting, Janette Wallis , Siân S. Waters & Danielle J. Whittaker: Family Cercopithecidae (Old World Monkeys). Page 709 in Russell A. Mittermeier , Anthony B. Rylands & Don E. Wilson : Handbook of the Mammals of the World: - Volume 3. Primates. Lynx Editions, 2013 ISBN 978-8496553897

Web links

Commons : Piliocolobus  - collection of images, videos and audio files