Colobus monkeys spend almost their entire lives up in the branches, rarely touching the ground. Unlike other primates, colobus monkeys’ cow-like stomachs allow them to subsist on a leafy diet. They don’t even need to come down for water, finding enough in the treetops to survive.

What They Eat
Tender, high-protein leaves from forest trees are black and white colobus monkeys’ favorite food. They also eat unripe fruit, seeds, flowers, and bark.

Where They Live
Black and white colobus make their home high in the trees of a variety of tropical African forests.

What They Do
Black and white colobus monkeys spend their days eating, relaxing, and socializing with each other, generally without squabbling. Males defend their group and its territory from others with roars, tongue-clicks, chases, and an unusual stiff-legged display.

How They’re Doing
Because individual family groups need only a small patch of forest, black and white colobus can coexist near people when clusters of trees remain intact. In some areas of tropical Africa, these small forest fragments are disappearing rapidly, however.

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Black and White Colobus Monkey

Black and White Colobus Monkey

Black and White Colobus Monkey

The word ‘colobus’ derives from the Greek word for ‘mutilated.’ They were given this name by European biologists because they lack functional thumbs.

The male head of a colobus group announces its presence and location each morning with a series of loud, long roars.

The practice of eating leaves is called folivory.

Black and white colobus monkeys are occasionally hunted for their striking fur, which has been used for everything from costumes and coat trim to rugs.

Support African forests and the black and white colobus monkey.

Although sometimes captured for their fur, black and white colobus monkeys are not considered threatened by people. They are often able to thrive in small pockets of habitat in between human settlements but are sometimes killed when they try to move between forest fragments.

The Zoo has provided funds to support primate patrolling and monitoring on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea.  Bioko Island is a small island (2000 km2) twenty miles off the coast of Cameroon in West Africa.  It is home to the capital city of Equatorial Guinea, 150,000 people, and some of the most endangered animals on Earth.  Threatened primates include: Pennant’s red colobus monkey (Procolobus pennanti pennanti: designated by IUCN’s Primate Specialist Group as one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world), the Bioko black colobus monkey (Colobus satanus satanus), Stampfli’s greater spot-nosed guenon (Cercopithecus nictitans stampflii), Preuss’ guenon (Cercopithecus preussi), Bioko red-eared guenon (Cercopithecus erythrotis erythrotis), crowned guenon (Cercopithecus pogonias pogonias), and the drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus). 

In the 1980s, the capital city of Malabo at the northern end of Bioko became home to a commercial bushmeat market, selling monkeys, duikers, sea turtles, monitor lizards, and other large animals.  Since then, wildlife has largely disappeared from the northern half of the island.  At the island’s southern end, the Gran Caldera - a hollowed out volcanic crater, shields many animals from hunters with its steep gorges.  As bushmeat supply decreases, however, and prices increase, hunters are making riskier and longer treks into the southern forests.

This project, run by the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program, coordinates seven wildlife patrolling and monitoring teams in an effort to protect the island’s remaining wildlife and keep commercial bushmeat hunters out of protected areas. In 2008 and 2009, the Minnesota Zoo provided funding through the Ulysses S. Seal Conservation Grant Program to help keep these patrols running. 

Range and Habitat
Black and white colobus monkeys are found throughout central Africa. They thrive in a wide range of forests, from lowland trees to mountainside stands and wooded grasslands. Because each family group occupies a relatively small home range (about 20 to 80 acres), colobus monkeys can survive in small fragments of forested land interrupted by farms and villages. In fact, sometimes they do best in forests that have been slightly disturbed by logging and other human activities.

Description
Black fur with a white face and long-haired white capes down the back make black and white colobus monkeys look a bit like tree skunks. They have a dark-skinned face with dark eyes, a prominent nose, and a very long, white-tufted tail with a white ring around the rump. Unlike other monkeys, colobus monkeys lack functional thumbs. Male black and white colobus monkeys tend to be larger than females.

Habits and Adaptations
Limber arms and legs with grasping fingers and toes help colobus monkeys live as comfortably in trees as people do on land. Relatively unusual among monkeys, colobus have a multi-chambered stomach with specialized bacteria that aid in digesting plant roughage and seeds, and leaves that contain toxins. As a result, they can derive nourishment from certain foods that other primates cannot. Their family groups have a social structure. If there are multiple adult males, one is clearly dominant. Females also may show a “pecking order,” though not as strong or obvious as that of the males. Colobus monkeys are generally less active than other monkey species. Although they spend most of their lives in trees, they occasionally descend to the ground.

Eat and Be Eaten
Tough stuff is no deterrent for black and white colobus monkeys, which eat tree leaves, seeds, bark, and other plant material avoided by many other monkeys. They prefer young, tender leaves and tree species whose leaves have a high protein content, however. Colobus monkeys, in turn, are eaten by crowned hawk-eagles, chimpanzees, and (if they lose their grip and fall to the ground) leopards.

Life History
Unlike animals with a specific breeding season, black and white colobus monkeys produce young year-round. White-furred, pink-skinned infants are born after about 158 days gestation. They are cared for by multiple females within the family unit, clinging to the caregiver as she rests or forages among the branches, and drinking milk from their mother. After about three weeks the newborn’s light fur and skin begin to darken. After eight or nine weeks the young monkey begins to go off on its own to nibble on leaves and play with other members of its group. Young are susceptible to falling from the trees and are targets of predators such as eagles. Those that survive are generally weaned by about one year of age. Females become mature around 4 years of age, and the males around age 6. Females tend to stay with their family group, while males take off for new ventures. They may live on their own for awhile, then join another group as a subordinate male or take over from the existing leader.