Cercocebus torquatus: Red-capped Mangabey

Red-capped Mangabey - Cercocebus torquatus
( Kerr, 1792 )

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Subspecies:	Unknown
Est. World Population:

CITES Status:	NOT LISTED
IUCN Status:	Endangered
U.S. ESA Status:	NOT LISTED

Body Length:
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Top Speed:
Jumping Ability:	(Horizontal)

Life Span:	in the Wild
Life Span:	in Captivity

Sexual Maturity:	(Females)
Sexual Maturity:	(Males)
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Habitat:

This species is usually found in high forest, but it also occurs in mangrove, dryland, gallery and swamp forest (Cooke 2005, Maisels et al. 2007, Oates 2011). It can also be found in young secondary forests and around cultivated areas. Group size is generally between 14 and 25 animals (and occasionally up to ~60) (Oates 2011).

Range:

This species’ range is about 270,000 km² of which a separate fragment just north of the main coastal strip could be up to about 3,500 km². Cercocebus torquatus occurs in a wide band of coastal forest from western Nigeria into southern Cameroon, and throughout mainland Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni) and Gabon (Gautier-Hion et al. 1999) to the Gabon-Congo border on the Atlantic shore (Maisels et al. 2007). The old western limit may have been in Benin, but the species has not been recorded there since at least the 1980s (Neuenschwander et al. 2011). Local hunters interviewed in 2003 mentioned the species occurring near the Benin-Nigeria border (Campbell et al. 2008), but their presence has not been confirmed (Oates 2011). Cercocebus torquatus seems never to occur more than 350 km from the coast (Maisels et al. 2007). Its southern limit is probably the Kouilou River in Congo and it certainly still thrives in the Gabon-Congo border area (Makaya 2010). In 1966, an isolated population occurred in Igalaland, Nigeria, about 100 km northeast of the main coastal population in the vicinity of Anyigba in Kogi State, but they are almost certainly gone by now (Oates 2011). This monkey is absent from Bioko Island.

Conservation:

Cercocebus torquatus is listed on Appendix II of CITES and on Class B of the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Hunting is banned within all the national parks of the range states where C. torquatus occurs, so the species is protected on paper within those areas. However, weak application of and poor compliance with the law both in and outside protected areas results in hunting throughout its range.

Each of the range states has a list of protected species. Cercocebus torquatus status in each country is as follows: Cameroon: they are on Class C (may be hunted with a permit (MINFOF 2006); Congo: partly protected (on “Annex II”), meaning they can be hunted with a big game permit (MEFDD 2011); Equatorial Guinea: the hunting, sale and consumption of all primates are forbidden by Presidential Decree (Republic of Equatorial Guinea 2007); Gabon: not mentioned on the Completely or Partially protected lists; and Nigeria: Completely Protected (Federal Ministry of Nigeria 2004).

In Central Africa, south of the Sanaga River, the stronghold of this species appears to be the coastal areas of Congo (Conkouati-Douli NP) and Gabon (Loango, Moukalaba-Doudou and Mayumba). Its strongholds in West Africa include Korup NP in Cameroon, and Okomu and Cross River NPs, and Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria. The species is still present in a number of protected areas including: Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary, Campo-Ma'an NP, Douala-Edea Reserve, Korup NP and the proposed Ebo NP (Cameroon); Conkouati-Douli NP (Congo); Monte Alén NP (Equatorial Guinea); Loango, Mayumba, Moukalaba-Doudou and Pongara NPs, and Sette Cama Forest Reserve (Gabon); and Okomu NP, Cross River NP (Nigeria). Outside the protected areas, the species is increasingly rare to absent, especially in areas with medium-to-high human population density, high agricultural activity, or active logging concessions.