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The vervet monkey prefers
grasslands to dense forest. It usually lives close to water, where it sleeps
at night among the branches of waterside trees or bushes such as the acacia.
the vervet monkey lives in Africa's dry dusty savannah lands. These include
the region of western Ethiopia that gives the monkey its other name.. Ethiopian
Grivet. The vervet monkey has a very long tail, which it holds erect when
it runs along the ground.
Breeding: The vervet monkey matures slowly. It reproduces in the wild at about five years of age, depending upon the availability of food. In captivity the female vervet conceives ( becomes pregnant), at two years old. at about the same age a male becomes fertile, but he is unlikely to breed until several years later when he is reaches a favorable position in the troop hierarchy (level of rank).
Five or six months after mating, the female give birth to a single furry infant. It immediately starts clinging onto its mothers belly. For the first few weeks the mother spends much of her time licking, grooming, and watching over her baby. She nurses it and holds it until the next infant is born about a year later. As soon as the youngster begins to eat a variety of food it suckles less frequently. Finally, just before the birth of the next baby, the mother weans it by removing er nipple from the infants mouth and pushing its head away.
After the first few months she allows the older infant to carry the baby. This teaches it how to handle young in preparation for its own offspring. A female often stays with her mother as long as the mother lives. Later she forms her own small family group as part of the larger troop. the usually leaves the group when he reaches adolescence at about five years of age.
Food & Feeding: The vervet's favorite food is fruit in season, but it will eat buds, flowers, and leaves and any available farm crops. Its diet also includes insects, eggs, and young birds and rodents. Like many monkeys, the vervet eats with it hands. The mother teaches what to pick and what to discard, and how to prepare food for eating.
Predators: A bird of prey such as the martial eagle may swoop down to grab a vervet. Some snakes wait at the bottom of trees for an unsuspecting member of a troop to climb down. If one of the vervet troop sights a tree snake it immediately gives an alarm call announcing the snakes location to the others. Baboons also occasionally catch and eat a vervet.
Habits: The male vervet is usually larger than the female. Unlike many monkey species, a troop of vervet monkeys usually includes several mature males. These males will compete for leadership, but this position changes regularly from one individual to another as members leave or join the troop, or when juveniles mature. A vervet scent marks it territory with facial gland secretions. It runs it cheek or chin on a spot that other monkeys will sniff. The boundaries of its territory vary in size according to the amount of food available in the area. The vervet has comparatively long arms and legs that allow it to move quickly on the ground. The vervet coloring varies over it range, and even within members of the same troop. The monkeys back hair and long tail are usually olden, its limbs are gray, its under parts are white, and its face is black. Its distinctive genitals are red and blue.
Key Facts: Sizes, Weight, breeding, lifestyle,
related Species
Height: 1 1/2 to 2 ft
Weight: Male, 10 lbs, Female, 7 lbs
Breeding:
Sexual Maturity: 5 years in the
wild, 2 years in captivity
Breeding season: Variable
Gestation: 5 to 6 months
Numbers of young: 1
Lifestyle:
Habit: Social; lives in groups that include
more than one male.
Diet: Fruit, seeds,flowers, insects,
eggs, nestlings, rodents
Related Species: related are the diana
monkey, Cercopithecus diana, from Seirra Leone and Ghana, and the patas
mon\key, Erythrocebus patas, from eastern Africa
Distribution: The vervet is found across
Africa from Senegal to Somalia and in southern Africa. It inhabits areas
of savannah and woodland that border water.
Conservation: Much of the vervet's habitat
has been converted to farmland, causing the monkey to raid crops in what
was it former range.
The Vervets Predators:
Baboons: Mainly plant eating but eats
almost anything, even its own young.
Martial eagle: Large, powerful bird of
prey that also hunts small antelope.
African Python: Swallows the vervet whole.
Other predators include the leopard and
other smaller cats. The ctrocodile also preys on the vervet.
Did you know?
A young monkey sucks its mothers nipple not ony
for nourishment but for comfort and security.
Monkeys increase the abundence of plants.
Tree seeds are expelled ungisgested in the mon\keys feces. Often
it is dropped in ideal places for germination, increasing the food supply
of other species.