Trivia question for Sep-21-2011

Carter loves the color markings on these primates and especially the fact that even babies have the distinctive white beard at 4-weeks of age.  These monkeys are nimble and agile, it spends most of its life on high forest branches.

Like most primates, these monkeys can always carry diseases that can be communicated to humans, like yellow fever and tuberculosis, but they are not important carriers of these. These monkey’s are a noisy presence in the forest. Its marked coloration allows a wide range of visual social signals, and it also has a wide range of alarm calls, with different sounds for different predators. The monkey has distinctive alarm calls for different kinds of predators, and recent research has shown that other forest residents such as the Yellow-casqued Hornbill are able to discriminate these and take appropriate action.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us what this colorful monkey is called and how it got its name?  Also, tell us if these guys are considered endangered or not?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Silmi from India for being the first to identify these monkeys and I am sorry you could not find the information about how they got their name.  The mammal we featured is the Diana Monkey.  The Diana monkey is an Old World monkey found in West Africa, from Sierra Leone to Côte d’Ivoire. They are generally black or dark grey, but have a white throat, crescent-shaped brow-band, ruff and beard; the brow-band gave the species its common name, since it was held to resemble the bow of the goddess Diana. The monkeys’ underarms are also white, and they have a white stripe down their thighs, while the backs of their thighs, and their lower backs, are a chestnut color. Apart from the brow-band, ruff and beard, and some fringes on their limbs, their fur is short and sleek in appearance.

The Diana monkey is found in the primeval forests, and does not thrive in secondary forests. It is active during the day. It feeds at all levels of the canopy, rarely comes down to the ground. Diana monkeys retreat to the upper levels of the trees at night, though they do not make nests. They feed mainly on fruit and insects, but will also take flowers, young leaves and invertebrates, and are in turn preyed on by the Crowned Hawk-eagle, the Leopard, and the Common Chimpanzee and humans. These monkey’s are considered endangered in most of its natural range.  Here is more on these hansom monkeys: Diana Monkey

Thanks for playing along 😉