 White-Throated
Guenon - Issue Forty-Two |
 |
|
|||||||
| |
Get
To Know
|
The Last Nazi by John Grey
John Grey is an Australian poet, and US resident. Recently published in Examined Life Journal, Evening Street Review and Columbia Review with work upcoming in Harpur Palate, Poetry East and Visions International.
|
|||
The White-Throated Guenon, also known as the red-bellied monkey
and the red-bellied guenon, is a diurnal primate that lives on trees
of rainforests or tropical areas of Nigeria and Benin. They are
usually frugivores but insects, leaves, and crops are also in their
diet. They usually live in small groups of four to five individual
monkeys however, there have been groups of 30 discovered, and in
cases, some males wander alone. They are arboreal, living in moist
tropical forest and the wettest parts of dry tropical forest, however
they can also be found in secondary bush and old farmland. Males
weigh from 3.5-4.5 kg and females weigh 2-4 kg. Females give birth
to one offspring, which is a factor of decreasing population. They
were once considered extinct due to constant hunting for the fur
of their unique red belly and white front legs, but a small group
was subsequently found near the Niger River in 1988. They are still
considered an endangered species due to their decreasing population.
They are present within Nigerian forest reserves and sacred groves
in Benin, but hunting and logging restrictions are difficult to
enforce or nonexistent. They are one of the species that live in
the Guinean Forests of the West Africa Biodiversity Hotspot.