Cercopithecus mona: Mona Monkey

Mona Monkey - Cercopithecus mona
( Schreber, 1775 )

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Subspecies:	Unknown
Est. World Population:

CITES Status:	NOT LISTED
IUCN Status:	Near Threatened
U.S. ESA Status:	NOT LISTED

Body Length:
Tail Length:
Shoulder Height:
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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 is a lowland forest species that inhabits all but the most severely degraded habitat and extends into the savanna zone in gallery forest, and also into mangroves (Oates 2011). It is more associated with riverbanks than the closely-related Cercopithecus lowei on the left bank of Afram River in Ghana, where the two species are sympatric. Similarly, in Togodo National Park in Togo mixed-species associations between C. mona and C. erythrogaster erythrogaster are frequently seen (Segnaigebto et al. 2017). In the Lama Forest of Benin, 41.7% of the diet was fruit followed by 22.0% seeds, 13.6% leaves, 11.7 % flowers and 9.9% insects (Matsuda Goodwin 2007). However, in Rhoko Forest, in Nigeria, the Mona Monkey was more insectivorous (Z. Tooze pers. comm. 2014). Perhaps this dietary flexibility, which allows them to inhabit different habitats, is one reason why this species is considered an ecological generalist.

Range:

Cercopithecus mona ranges from the Volta-Afram River in southeastern Ghana to Cameroon, just south of the Sanaga River. In Ghana, there is a zone of overlap between C. mona and C. lowei along the western bank of Volta River and along the Afram River. In Benin, this species is found as far north as 9°14 N. It has been introduced to São Tomé and Príncipe and from there to the Caribbean islands of Grenada.

Conservation:

This species is listed on Appendix II of CITES and on Class B of the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. It is known to occur in a number of protected areas, such as Korup and Takamanda national parks in Cameroon, Gashaka-Gumti (Adanu et al. 2010), Okomu and Cross River national parks, and in Niger Delta in Nigeria (Akinsorotan et al. 2011), Lama Forest in Benin (Matsuda Goodwin 2007, Nobimè et al. 2011), and Fazao-Malfakassa and Togodo national parks in Togo (Segniagbeto et al. 2017), and Digya and Kalakpa national parks in Ghana. This species also occurs in a number of forest reserves (e.g., Dja in Cameroon [Poulsen et al. 2011], Oluwa, Shasha, Omo in Nigeria [Oates et al. 2008]), but increasingly this small-bodied primate is being hunted as the larger-bodied primate populations are being depleted, even in protected areas. Some C. mona groups are protected in community forests (some of which are sacred forests) and urban parks in its range countries (Baker et al. 2009).