Vervet Monkey

Class: Mammals

Order: Primates

Family: Cercopithecidae

Weight: Males – 3.9–8 kg, Females – 3.4–5.3 kg

Body length: males – 42–60 cm, females – 30–50 cm, tail length – 30–50 cm

Color: black face with a white fringe of hair, overall body color is predominantly grayish-blue. Males of all subspecies are recognizable by their blue scrotum and red penis.

Age of sexual maturity: 4–5 years

Gestation period: 163–165 days

Lifespan: In the wild – 15 years, In captivity – 35 years

Habitat range: Vervet monkeys are widespread throughout much of southern and eastern Africa, ranging from Ethiopia, Somalia, and the far south of Sudan to South Africa. They inhabit savannas, floodplains, coastal forests, and mountains up to elevations of 4000 meters.

Diet: fruits, fig fruits, leaves, seeds, and flowers. They also consume bird eggs and young chicks, insects (grasshoppers and termites). In human-inhabited areas, they are willing to eat bread and various cereal crops, especially corn.

Did You Know?

• Vervet monkeys are diurnal and live in social groups ranging from fifty to seventy individuals. They maintain a strict hierarchical structure within the groups. Females never leave their troop, whereas young males are expelled by older males into other groups composed of juveniles.
• Vervet monkeys produce specialized sounds to warn about different types of predators. They use distinct signals upon spotting a leopard, snake, or eagle. These vocal signals are regarded by some ethologists as a form of protolanguage.
• Vervet monkeys have been extensively used for sociobiological and medical experiments, resulting in large groups being kept and bred in captivity.