Portal:Primates

The mantled guereza (Colobus guereza), also known simply as the guereza, the eastern black-and-white colobus, or the Abyssinian black-and-white colobus, is a black-and-white colobus, a type of Old World monkey. It is native to much of west central and east Africa, including Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Chad. It has a distinctive appearance which is alluded to in its name; the long white fringes of hair the run along each side of its black trunk are known as a mantle. Its face is framed with white hair and it has a large white tail tuft.

The mantled guereza is diurnal and arboreal, found in both deciduous and evergreen forests. It is an adaptable species that can cope with habitat disturbance and prefers secondary forest close to rivers or lakes. Although previously thought only to eat leaves, it also eats seeds, fruits, and arthropods. It is able to digest plant material with a high fibre content with its specialised stomach and may only eat from a few plant species at a time. It is preyed on by birds of prey and some mammals such as the common chimpanzee and the leopard.

The mantled guereza lives in social groups of three to fifteen individuals. These groups normally include a dominant male, several females, and the offspring of the females. It has a polygynous mating system. The mantled guereza is listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because it is widespread and although locally threatened in some areas the decline is not great enough to list it in a higher category of threat. However, one subspecies found in Kenya is listed as Endangered.