Mantled guereza

The mantled guereza has many alternative common names including the guereza, the eastern black-and-white colobus, the magistrate colobus, The name "mantled" refers to its mantle, the long silky white fringes of hair that run along its body and "guereza" is the native name of the monkey in Ethiopia. The scientific name Colobus derives from Greek kolobus meaning "mutilated" which refers to its lack of thumbs. ==Taxonomic classification==

The mantled guereza was first classified by Eduard Rüppell, a German naturalist and explorer, during his trip to Abyssinia between 1830 and 1834. He wrote about the species in Neue Wirbelthiere con Abyssinien, Saengthiere in 1835. It was first seen in Europe in 1890 in Berlin Zoological Garden when three individuals were purchased from a dealer from Massawa, Eritrea. The mantled guereza is in the Colobinae subfamily, also known as the leaf-eating monkeys, a group of Old World monkeys from Asia and Africa. This subfamily is split into three groups, the colobus monkeys of Africa, of which the mantled guereza is a part, the langurs, or leaf monkeys, of Asia, and an "odd-nosed" group. The African colobus monkeys are divided again by distinctions in color, behavior, and ecology. The three genera are the black-and-white colobi, the red colobi, and the olive colobi. There are three black-and-white colobi: the mantled guereza, Colobus guereza, the king colobus, C. polykomos, and the Angola colobus, C. angolensis. Groves lists seven subspecies of mantled guereza in Mammal Species of the World (MSW) (2005). and by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessors Gippolliti and Butynski in 2008. • Western guereza, Colobus guereza occidentalis, occurs from eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon at the edge of its western range to South Sudan and Uganda, west of the Nile. • Omo River guereza or Abyssinian black-and-white colobus, C. g. guereza, found in Ethiopia, in the highlands west of the Rift Valley down to the reaches of the Awash River, the Omo River, and in the Blue Nile gorge. • Djaffa Mountains guereza or Neumann's black-and-white colobus, C. g. gallarum, found in the Ethiopian Highlands east of the Rift Valley. • Dodinga Hills guereza, C. g. dodingae, found in the Didinga Hills in South Sudan. • Mau Forest guereza, C. g. matschiei, occurs from western Kenya and Uganda south into northern Tanzania. • Mt Uaraguess guereza or Percival's black-and-white colobus, C. g. percivali, found in the Matthews Range in Kenya. • Eastern black-and-white colobus, C. g. kikuyuensis, occurs in Kenya on the Ngong Escarpment of Mount Kenya and in the Aberdare Range. • Kilimanjaro guereza, C. g. caudatus, found in Tanzania and Kenya in the forests surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru. The morphological difference between subspecies is most pronounced between the southeastern Kilimanjaro guereza, C. g. caudatus, and the northwestern western guereza, C. g. occidentalis. The intermediate subspecies show a gradual change between the two. File:Eastern black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza occidentalis).jpg|C. g. occidentalisAt the Semliki Wildlife Reserve in Uganda File:Eastern black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza occidentalis) with juvenile.jpg|C. g. occidentalis with juvenileAt the Semliki Wildlife Reserve in Uganda File:Eastern black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza matschiei).jpg|C. g. matschiei with juvenileAt the Lake Naivasha in Kenya File:Eastern black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza matschiei) head.jpg|C. g. matschieiAt the Lake Naivasha in Kenya File:Abyssinian black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza guereza) male.jpg|male C. g. guerezaAt the Amora Gedel Park in Awassa, Ethiopia File:Abyssinian black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza guereza) male head.jpg|male C. g. guerezaAt the Amora Gedel Park in Awassa, Ethiopia File:Abyssinian black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza guereza) juvenile female.jpg|juvenile female C. g. guerezaAt the Amora Gedel Park in Awassa, Ethiopia ==Physical description==

in Wiesbaden, Germany The mantled guereza has a distinctive pelage, which is mostly black, with long white fringes of silky hair—known as a mantle or ornamentation—along the sides of its body and tail. The bands that make up the mantle start at the shoulders and extend along the back until they connect at the lower torso. The tail is long and ends in a white tuft which varies in how much it covers the tail. These features vary in color among subspecies, for example the tail of C. g. guereza is gray until the white tail tuft which covers half of its length, while the tail tuft of C. g. caudatus makes up 80% of the tail. The mantle color ranges from white to cream or yellow. Its face is framed by white hair and it has bushy cheek hairs. The thigh has a white stripe. Infants are born with pink skin and white hair. The hair and skin darken as they age and by three to four months they attain adult coloration. Male usually gain their coloration before females. The male typically weighs and the female weighs between . The head and body length averages for males and for females. Like most colobi, the mantled guereza has a small thumb that is vestigial. There is dentition sexual dimorphism among the subspecies. In some, the males have larger teeth than females, in others the reverse is true, and some have no significant difference. ==Distribution and habitat==

s. The mantled guereza is distributed throughout Equatorial Africa. It ranges from Nigeria and Cameroon in the west to Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and northern Tanzania in the east. It can be found in elevations as high as . This species prefers secondary forests and selects them over old-growth forests if given the choice. It is likely that the mantled guereza prefers these forests due to the increased number of food trees and the weaker chemical defenses of the species within. as well as human-made habitats such as Eucalyptus plantations, which may be frequented when the monkey has nutritional deficiencies. ==Ecology==

The mantled guereza is primarily arboreal, but does sometimes descend on the ground to forage and travel, perhaps more so than most other colobines. It is diurnal and rests for up to half the day. Foraging or travelling are the next most common activity. Sometime after dawn, mantled guereza groups leave their sleeping trees and will return to them at dusk. During the day, the mantled guereza has long rest periods in between periods of moving and feeding. Other activities, including grooming, greeting, playing and being vigilant, are performed to a lesser extent. The amount of each food item in its diet varies by area and time of year. Nutritional factors like protein, tannins, and sodium levels in leaves influence its food choices. It may even intermittently travel longer distances to access plants with higher levels of nutrition. Leaves usually make up over half of its diet, although fruits are occasionally eaten more depending on the season. but it is also eaten by other birds of prey such as Verreaux's eagle. The leopard is another possible predator. ==Behaviour==

Social structure or allogrooming mainly occurs between females and is an important social interaction in mantled guereza groups. The mantled guereza lives in stable social groups usually containing three to fifteen members. The groups usually contain one male, several females and juveniles. In some populations, groups containing several males are common. In multi-male groups, males tend to be aggressive with one another with one being dominant. Some males may be expelled from these groups. Males that are not part of groups either live solitarily or with other outside males in bachelor groups. The females keep the groups cohesive and they are matrilineally related. They rarely disperse from their natal groups, except possibly when they break apart. The adult males rarely groom in the groups. While not strictly territorial, mantled guereza groups can be aggressive towards each other. It is the males that participate in agonistic inter-group encounters but female may do so as well. To solicit mating, the mantled guereza will walk near its potential partner and make low-intensity mouth clicks or tough-smacks. During copulation, the males hold on the female's ankles and body. Most matings take place between individuals of the same group but copulations outside of the group have been recorded. The infants take up most of the attention in the groups. The other females in a group may handle an infant although the latter are only comfortable with their mothers. The males normally do not pay much attention to infants until they are four to five weeks old. When one male starts roaring, neighboring males will start to roar as well. Other vocalizations are made as well. Males may snort, possibly as an alarm call. "Purrs" are made before group movements. Females and infants may "caw" when under mild distress. When in more serious distress, like if an infant is in danger, females and sub-adults will squeak or scream. "Tongue-clicking" is made during mild aggression. In addition to vocalizations, the mantled guereza communicates with several different body postures and movements, displaying of fringe fur, facial expressions, and touches. ==Conservation status==

Because it can live in both dry and gallery forests and move on the ground, the mantled guereza is less threatened than many other colobine species. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern because "although locally threatened in parts of its range, this widespread species is not thought to be declining fast enough to place it in a higher category of threat." while the Dodinga Hills guereza, C. g. dodingae, the Djaffa Mountains guereza, C. g. gallarum, and the Mau Forest guereza, C. g. matschiei are all listed as Data Deficient. The Dodinga Hills guereza has not been recorded since the 1960s. Sometimes, logging may increase the number of preferred food trees for the mantled guereza and it is more abundant in logged areas than unlogged ones. However, complete forest clearance causes dramatic declines in numbers. In Uganda complete forest clearings caused a decline of 50% over eight years. The mantled guereza is also threatened by hunting for meat and its skin. Mantled guereza meat sells as bushmeat for $4–9 US. The skins have been sold for fashion or in the tourist trade. ==References==