Allen’s Swamp Monkey (Allenopithecus nigroviridis)


MORPHOLOGY:
The average body mass for the male Allen’s swamp monkey is around 7 kilograms, and for the female it is around 3 kilograms. This is a sexually dimorphic species (Gautier, 1985). The body pelage is olive -green dorsally and white ventrally. The cheek pelage is relatively long given individuals a leonine appearance (Kingdon, 1988). The face and the ears of this species are pink in color (Estes, 1991). The male has a scrotum that is red in color (Ankel-Simons, 2000). Between the fingers and the toes there is webbing to assist in swimming (Rowe, 1996). This species has broad molar teeth, suggestive of a frugivorous diet (Fleagle, 1988).

RANGE:
The Allen’s swamp monkey is found in the country of Zaire, in the central Congo Basin and the eastern Congo (Zeeve, 1985). This species prefers to live in swamp forests. This species also been reported to live in gallery forests (Zeeve, 1985).
Allen's Swamp Monkey


Allen's Swamp Monkey (Female) ECOLOGY:
The Allen’s swamp monkey is primarily a frugivorous species. This species also consumes vertebrates, pith, roots, and invertebrates (Zeeve, 1985). Among the vertebrates include fish hatchlings that are collected from river beds during the dry season (Zeeve, 1985). Examples of invertebrates eaten are beetles and worms (Zeeve, 1985). Allen's swamp monkey forages for fruit on low riverine bushes and trees and plant and invertebrate food is collected on the ground in gallery and swamp forests (Zeeve, 1985). This species was found to consume nectar of the species Daniellia pynaertii (Gautier-Hion and Maisels, 1994). Nectar feeding may be possible because this particular species of tree has nectar with a higher than average lipid content; usually only smaller bodied primates consume nectar because for larger bodied ones the nectar has too low of an energy content (Gautier-Hion and Maisels, 1994). The average group size is around 40 individuals (Gautier, 1985). Groups will split up into subgroups of 2 to 6 individuals to forage for food (Zeeve, 1985). Sleeping sites for this species are usually located near water and the same sites are used repeatedly (Gautier, 1985). Allen's swamp monkey is a semi-terrestrial and a diurnal species (Gautier, 1985). This species will dive into the water when a predator is detected (Gautier-Hion, 1988).


LOCOMOTION:
The Allen’s swamp monkey moves through the forest in a quadrupedal manner (Fleagle, 1988). This species is capable of swimming and diving (Zeeve, 1985).

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR:
The Allen’s swamp monkey has a multimale-multifemale social system. This species been found to form mixed-species associations with Cercopithecus ascanius (Gautier, 1985). This species has also been found to form polyspecific associations with Cercopithecus wolfi and Cercopithecus ascanius (McGraw, 1994).

VOCAL COMMUNICATION:
contact call: This call resembles a grunting sound and is used to maintain contact between group members (Gautier, 1988).

OLFACTORY COMMUNICATION:

VISUAL COMMUNICATION:

TACTILE COMMUNICATION: social grooming: This is when one individual will groom another, removing dead skin and parasites. This behavior is used to reinforce social bonds between two individuals.
Young grooming a female


REPRODUCTION:
The Allen’s swamp monkey gives birth to a single offspring. Most births for this species occur in June (Gevaerts, 1992). During estrus the perineum of the female swells up (Nowak, 1999).

Allen's Swamp Monkey (Male)



Allen's Swamp Monkey


Allen's Swamp Monkey
REFERENCES:
Ankel-Simons, F. 2000. Primate Anatomy. Academic Press: San Diego.

Burton, F. 1995. The Multimedia Guide to the Non-human Primates. Prentice-Hall Canada Inc.

Estes, R.D. 1991. The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. University of California Press.

Fleagle, J. G. 1988. Primate Adaptation and Evolution. Academic Press.

Gautier, J.P. 1985. Quelques caracteristiques ecologiques du singe des marais: Allenopithecus nigroviridis Lang 1923. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie). Vol. 40, 331-342.

Gautier, J.P. 1988. Interspecific affinities among guenons as deduced from vocalizations. in A Primate Radiation: Evolutionary Biology of the African Guenons. eds. A. Gautier-Hion, F. Bourliere, J.P. Gautier, and J. Kingdon. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

Gautier-Hion, A. 1988. Polyspecific associations among forest guenons: Ecological, behavioural and evolutionary aspects. in A Primate Radiation: Evolutionary Biology of the African Guenons. eds. A. Gautier-Hion, F. Bourliere, J.P. Gautier, and J. Kingdon. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

Gautier-Hion, A. and Maisels, F. 1994. Mutualism between a leguminous tree and large African monkeys as pollinators. Behavorial Ecology and Sociobiology. Vol. 34, 203-210.

Gevaerts, H. 1992. Birth seasons of Cercopithecus, Cercocebus, and Colobus in Zaire. Folia Primatologica. Vol. 59, 105-113.

Kingdon, J. 1988. What are face patterns and do they contribute to reproductive isolation in guenons? . in A Primate Radiation: Evolutionary Biology of the African Guenons. eds. A. Gautier-Hion, F. Bourliere, J.P. Gautier, and J. Kingdon. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

McGraw, S. 1994. Census, habitat preference, and polyspecific associations of six monkeys in the Lomako Forest, Zaire. American Journal of Primatology Vol. 34, 295-307.

Nowak, R.M. 1999. Walker's Primates of the World. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.

Rowe, N. 1996. The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates. Pogonias Press: East Hampton, New York.

Zeeve, S.R. 1985. Swamp monkeys of the Lomako Forest, Central Zaire. Primate Conservation. Vol. 5, 32-33.


Last Updated: October 4, 2003.
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