SCIENTIFIC NAME:  Colobus guereza

Keepers will explain to students the behavioral habits of the “Eastern Black and White Colobus” monkeys. While feeding the primates, they will describe how a Colobus monkey primarily stays in trees.

“Did you know that the Colobus monkey has no thumbs and its feet are like hands?”

More information:
The colobus monkey is shy and the only thing distinguishing it from three other similar species of colobus, with similar lifestyles, is its coat. It has hindquarters that are longer and stronger than its forequarters, which help the monkey leap from tree to tree. It has reduced thumbs or no thumbs at all. The black and white monkey gets its name “Colobus”, which in Greek means “mutilated” because of its lack of thumbs. It has a specialized and complex stomach, which is divided into pockets, or chambers (sacculations), and banded by two longitudinal muscular strips. The monkey’s stomach processes the cellulose contained in leaves that it eats.

The colobus travels on average only 500-600 yards a day, at much higher elevations than fruit and insect dependent monkeys. It is territorial and will defend its area with threatening calls and displays.