Uganda colobus monkey
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Uganda colobus monkey ( Piliocolobus tephrosceles ) |
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| Piliocolobus tephrosceles | ||||||||||||
| ( Elliot , 1907) |
The Uganda colobus monkey ( Piliocolobus tephrosceles ) is a primate species from the group of colobus monkeys . It has only been recognized as an independent species since 2001.
features
Uganda colobus monkeys reach a head-trunk length of 45.5 to 67 cm (males) or 49 to 58 cm (females), a tail length of 65 to 72 cm (males) and 62 to 68 cm (females). Males reach a weight of 8 to 11.4 kg. Females have not yet been weighed; However, it can be assumed that, like the females of other colobus monkey species, they are much lighter than the males. However, the sexual dimorphism of the species shows up not only in weight, but also on the head. The skull of the males is more massive, the canines and cheek hairs are longer. Overall, the monkey's teeth are relatively small. As with all colobus monkeys, the body is slender, the tail is very long, the thumb is receded. Adult females have a showy large clitoris. Females' fertility is indicated by a small, pink-colored sexual lump in the buttock area. A conspicuous tuft of hair sits at the base of the ears. Newborns are silky black on the back and sides of the body and have a gray belly. The mouth, ears, palms and feet are pink.
Uganda colobus monkeys have thick, long fur. It is glossy blackish on the back and on the top of the tail and light gray to whitish on the belly. Arms and legs are light gray, sometimes with a brownish tinge on the arms and a more reddish tinge on the hips and thighs. The top of the head is rusty red and becomes more reddish brown towards the front with a black stripe from temple to temple. The face is slate gray, the eyelids are pink. The different populations in the disjoint range differ in color and could possibly be classified as different subspecies. In the Mahale Mountains , the animals are velvety black with reddish areas on the rear trunk and a tail that becomes blacker and blacker towards the rear and the underside of which is white. In the forests around the Rukwasee the monkeys are more gray-black with a light gray belly, reddish sideburns and very long cheek hairs.
distribution
These primates live in isolated forests in eastern Africa on the eastern border of the western section of the Great Rift Valley .
The distribution area includes the Kibale National Park and its immediate surroundings in southwest Uganda , the administrative district of Biharamulo in the far northwest of Tanzania, the Tanzanian national parks Gombe Stream and Mahale Mountains and forests on the banks of Lake Rukwa . The species may also be found in some areas of Rwanda , Burundi, or the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo . However, this has not yet been verified .
Way of life
Uganda colobus monkeys are found in primary rainforests in the lowlands and in mountain forests. In the most important distribution area, in the Ugandan Kibale National Park, the forest is moist, evergreen and is dominated by old trees up to 50 meters high. They tolerate moderate logging if important forage trees remain. Like all red colobus monkeys, they are diurnal tree dwellers. They live together in groups that are composed of several males, many females and the common offspring and comprise between 9 and 80 individuals. The diet of these animals consists of young and older leaves, with the ratio between them differing depending on the season and region. Fruits, seeds and shoots make up a smaller part of their diet. Uganda colobus monkeys are likely to breed year-round. As a rule, 25.5 months elapse between two births.
Systematics
The Uganda colobus monkey was described as Colobus tephrosceles in 1907 by the American zoologist Daniel Giraud Elliot . Today it is listed by Wilson & Reeder (2005) and Mittermeier, Rylands and Wilson (2013) under the scientific name Piliocolobus tephrosceles . Jonathan Kingdon and co-workers, on the other hand, list the Uganda colobus monkey as a subspecies of a broad species called the East African colobus monkey ( P. rufomitratus ) and not in the genus Piliocolobus , but in Procolobus .
Danger
The IUCN lists the species as endangered . In total there are probably around 20,000 animals left, 17,000 of them in Uganda's Kibale National Park. 90 to more than 300 specimens live there on one square kilometer. Chimpanzee stalking is the greatest threat to the colobus monkeys in Gombe Stream National Park . Chimpanzees kill 16 to 40% there every year.
literature
- Thomas Geissmann : Comparative Primatology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin et al. 2003, ISBN 3-540-43645-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f 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 711 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
- ↑ Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Ed.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
- ↑ Thomas Butynski, Jonathan Kingdon and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume II. Primates. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2252-5 , 142-147.
- ↑ Piliocolobus tephrosceles in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2016 Posted by: Struhsaker, T., 2008. Accessed January 9, 2017th
