Vervets are primates, a group of mammals that includes monkeys, apes and humans. Primates have large brains relative to their size and these clever adaptable creatures are thought to be the most intelligent of all animals.
Living things can be organised into different groups. Species that are alike are grouped together. This is called classification.
Class: Mammals
Order: Primates
Family: Cercopithecidae
Species: Chlorocebus pygerythrus
There are over 180 species of primates, from the tiny 100g mouse lemur, to the 200kg gorilla. The vervet is a medium sized old-world monkey of the Guenon family and is the most widespread of the guenon species. Five distinct subspecies of vervet monkeys are recognised. Born Free takes action in Zambia and Malawi to protect vervets.
Also known as the Grivet or Green monkey, vervets have long and well-muscled hindlegs, used in leaping between branches. With yellow greenish fur and white undersides, the vervet’s black-skinned hands, feet and face stand out distinctively, while the male’s genital region is brightly coloured red and blue.
The versatile vervet adapts easily to many environments and is widely distributed across 39 nations of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia and southward to South Africa
As long as they have access to water and trees to sleep in, vervets are tolerant of a wide variety of habitats and can live in humid rain forests, semi-desert environments or even swamps. Their preferred habitat is acacia woodland found along streams, rivers and lakes and – adept at raiding crops – they also exploit areas near cultivated fields. Equally comfortable on the ground as they are in trees, vervets are diurnal (active in the daytime) and sleep in trees at night. Predators include leopards, pythons, eagles or even baboons. Vervet meat is also a popular human food source in certain areas.
A vervet has an extremely varied diet. Fruit, flowers, leaves and young shoots are important but bark, bulbs, roots, fungi, gum, nuts and grass seeds are also consumed. The most omnivorous of primates, along with chimps and baboons, the vervet’s diet is supplemented with insects, grubs, eggs, baby birds, lizards, rodents and other vertebrates. Food can be crammed into cheek pouches to be consumed in a safe place. Vervets must drink water every day.
One interesting phenomenon about vervets is that they seems to possess what has been called the ‘rudiments of language’. Vocal communication has been well studied and vervets have an intricate system of alarm calls. These calls calls vary greatly depending on the different types of threats to the community. There are distinct calls to warn of invading leopards, snakes, and eagles.
Grooming is important in a monkey's life. Like many primates, vervets spend several hours a day removing parasites, dirt or other material from one another's fur. In the primates' hierarchy, dominant individuals get the most grooming. The hierarchical system also controls feeding, mating, fighting, friendships and even survival. Young vervets chase one another, wrestle, tumble and play ‘king-of-the-castle’, taking turns pushing each other off a high perch.
Vervet society is built on complex but stable social groups (called troops) of 10 to 50 individuals — mainly adult females and their immature offspring. Females remain in their natal groups throughout their entire life. There is a strict social hierarchy among troop members; a mother’s social standing predetermines her offspring’s, and even adults in a family must submit to juveniles of families with higher social status. Males transfer troops at least once in their lifetime, beginning at puberty. This is a dangerous process not only because of the predators they may encounter in transit, but also because troops dislike immigrants.
Vervets are seasonal breeders, giving birth during times of food abundance after the rainy season. Females reach maturity around four years and males by five years. After mating gestation is 5½ months with a single offspring produced. After 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 and will be four months before it acquires adult coloration. 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.
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