Trivia question for Oct-02-2011

Olivia likes these little guys and hopes to see some when she goes to South Africa.  These guys are so smart, they alert troop members of danger using a distinct alarm call for each type of predator that approaches.

These monkey’s are diurnal and social; living in groups of up to 72. There is a clear order of dominance among individuals within the group. They eat a wide range of fruits, figs, leaves, seeds and flowers. It also eats birds’ eggs and young chicks, and insects (grasshoppers and termites). In human inhabited environments it will eat bread and various crops; especially maize.

So here are Olivia’s questions: Tell us what kind of monkey this is and where they can be found?  Also, tell us what the French word ‘Guenon’ means and what it refers too?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations goes out to Lerato from Daymani, South Africa for being the first to answer our trivia. The little monkey we featured is the Vervet Monkey. The vervet monkey, or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa.  The vervet monkey ranges throughout much of Southern and East Africa, being found from Ethiopia, Somalia and extreme southern Sudan, to South Africa.

Guenon is a French word for fright.  It refers to an excited or angry vervet monkey’s grimace. This species was known in ancient Egypt including the Red Sea Mountains and the Nile Valley.  From fresco artworks found in Akrotiri on the Mediterranean island of Santorini there is evidence that the vervet monkey was known to the inhabitants of this settlement around 2000 BC; this fact is most noted for evidence of early contact between Egypt and Akrotiri.  Here is more on these playful little guys: Vervet Monkey

Thanks for playing along 😉