Vervet Monkey - Cercopithecus
aethiops
The Vervet Monkey can be found from
the southern Sahara to the whole southern part of the African continent.
A common resident to Botswana is well adapted to practically all
wooded habitats outside the equatorial rain forest. Being small
and not a fast runner, this monkey cannot afford to venture far
from the safety of trees. It is essentially an edge species and
typically associated with riverine forest; in the dry savanna, they
stay near the acacias. The Vervet Monkey is also known as grass
monkeys. They have a creaking cry and a staccato bark that enables
members of a troop to keep in contact. They have a variety of alarm
calls, distinguishing between avian, snake or mammalian predators.
Grooming removes parasites, but the primary function is to establish
and maintain social bonds. It is most common among family members,
but is also considered a means to form alliances with non-kin and
to strive for higher status.
Leaves and young shoots are most important
in the diet, but bark, flowers, fruit, bulbs, roots and grass seeds
are also consumed. The mainly vegetarian diet is supplemented with
insects, grubs, eggs, baby birds and sometimes rodents and hares.
Vervets rarely drink water.
Infant vervet monkeys are suckled for about 4 months. When they
become adept at feeding themselves solid food, the weaning process
begins, although it may not be completed until the vervet is 1 year
old.
Close social bonds with female relatives
begin to develop in infancy, relationships thought to endure throughout
life. Infants are of great interest to the other monkeys in the
troop; subadult females do everything possible to be allowed to
groom or hold a new infant.
After a birth, the mother licks the
infant clean, bites off the umbilical cord and eats the afterbirth.
The newborn has black hair and a pink face; it will be 3 or 4 months
before it acquires adult coloration.
The infant spends the first week
of life clinging to its mother's stomach. After about the third
week, it begins to move about by itself and attempts to play with
other young monkeys. Vervet mothers are proprietary in the treatment
of their babies, and some will not allow young or even other adult
females to hold or carry them. Others gladly leave their infants
in charge of any interested female. Researchers report that usually
a female's close family members will have the most unrestricted
access to the babies. As the infants grow, they play not only with
monkeys but with other young animals. Young vervets chase one another,
wrestle, tumble and play "king-of-the-castle," taking
turns pushing each other off a high perch.
|
