Vervet Monkeys: Cercopithecus Aethiops

Cercopithecus aethiops, also known as Vervet monkeys, are an active and agile species of Old World monkey from the sub-Saharan Africa. There are at least six different species of vervets, all of which live a hierarchical society (Isbell 1998).
Physical Description These small primates are easily distinguishable and easy to spot in the wild. Their fur tends to be between green and olive or between silver and grey. The face, ears, hands, feet, and tip of the tail are all black. Vervets also have beautiful brown eyes. Infant vervets are born with black fur with a light pink face and ears. The coloration of their coat of fur and faces gradually changes to the ideal adult coloration by twelve weeks of age (Grooves 2001). Compared to other primates,
In Amboseli, predation is the cause of seventy percent of the deaths of vervets. At night, vervet monkeys climb up fever trees to rest. These trees provide sap and seeds to eat, a resting place, and a shelter against predators (Isbell 1998). These predators include pythons, martial eagles, leopards, small cats, and even baboons. To increase their chances of survival, these amazing primates let out alarm calls to specific predator threats. Vervets have at least six vocal calls that each evoke a different response. When a vervet makes a leopard call, all other vervets swiftly run up the trees. Vervets will all look up in the air if an eagle alarm is called. Additionally, they can recognize alarm calls from different species. The superb starling, a common bird in Amboseli, has a similar call for eagles. This call also made vervets look up into the sky. Although, these primates can recognize sounds of other species, they do not seem to understand clues that predators leave behind. When a vervet sees a leopard with a carcass in a tree, it will make an alarm call. However, if there is a carcass and no leopard, they will not make the call despite the obvious evidence of a nearby leopard. Another example is vervets not being able to recognize the tracks of a python that lead directly into a bush. They do not seem to correlate the tracks of a python to danger and walk straight into the bush for food. Additionally,
The troop size for vervet monkeys consists of two to about twenty adult males and females, along with infants (Isbell 1998). Groups tend to have anywhere from one to eight adult males and two to eight adult females (Cheney & Robert 1998). In the Amboseli National Park, the average group size was 24.1 individuals (Struhsaker 1967). Multiple males in a group, although uncommon in other mammals, is a result of other lower-ranking males joining groups to minimize predation. Although males are no better than females at detecting predators, the highest-ranking male is the best at detecting and defending against predators than other males (Isbell et al. 2002). When groups are so small they have a tendency to merge with neighboring groups. This happens when the number of adult females becomes one or zero or the number of adults is reduced to one. Even with infants in the group, they do not supplement for an adult. When a group merges with another group, the group become the lowest ranking individuals in the new group (Isbell et al.