Common Name: Roloway Monkey Scientific Name: Cercopithecus diana roloway
CRITICALLY ENDANGERED Roloway Monkey Distribution:
Roloway Monkeys are very attractive monkeys. They always look well groomed. Their coats are black with a red tinge along the saddle of the back and a white bib. They also have a white stripe down their sides and a red bottom.
Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire
Habitat: Forest Height: Approx. 50cm Weight: 5kg Diet: Omnivorous Fruit, leaves, insects.
The monkey spend most of their day foraging for food. Most of their diet is made up of fruit but they will supplement their diet with insects if they can catch them. The monkeys are ‘old world’ monkeys, meaning they com from either Africa of Asia. Roloway Monkeys come from eastern areas of Africa and are now restricted to the countries of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire where they inhabit the forests. They are so endangered because of habitat destruction and hunting of the monkeys for food. These monkeys are largely arboreal, spending most of their time up in the trees. Generally these monkeys form groups that consist of a single male and many females. The ‘dominant’ male will guard the females and protect the territory from predators and rival groups. They have been seen in medium groups in the wild of up to 50 individuals. Groups this size would only form when food was plentiful and there was little competition between the monkeys. These monkeys are very vocal and can be heard from afar. The females give loud ‘chatter screams’ and will ‘whistle’ at each other to give an alarm call.