Olive colobus (Procolobus verus)

Olive colobus adult carrying young in mouth
Olive colobus adult carrying young in mouth

Olive colobus fact file

Olive colobus description

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassMammalia
OrderPrimates
FamilyCercopithecidae
GenusProcolobus (1)

The olive colobus has the distinction of being the smallest colobus monkey (2), a group of primates that primarily consume leaves and possess an unusual stomach that enables them to digest this plant matter efficiently (4). The olive colobus has greenish-olive fur graduating to brown on the back, and dull grey undersides. The small, rounded head has a short, grey crest running down the crown with a swirl of light grey hair on each side of the forehead. A dull white ruff frames the hairless dark face (2)

Also known as
green colobus, Van Beneden’s colobus.
Synonyms
Colobus verus.
French
Colobe À Huppe, Colobe De Van Beneden, Colobe Vert, Colobe Vrai.
Spanish
Colobo Verde.
Size
Head-body length: 43 – 50 cm (2)
Male weight: 3.3 – 5.7 kg (2)
Female weight: 3 – 4.5 kg (2)
Top

Olive colobus biology

Tree-dwelling olive colobus live in groups of 5 to 20 individuals with around half containing one adult male with several females and their young (2), and the remaining groups having multiple breeding males (6). Members of a group communicate infrequently with very quiet chirping or burring calls (2). Little is known about reproduction in the olive colobus, but it is believed to be the only Old World monkey in which the female carries the newborn in her mouth while she travels for the first month of life (5) (7). As the infant grows, it may wrap itself around the female’s neck or cling to her body as she moves through the forest (2).

The olive colobus is a shy and retiring monkey that prefers to move through dense growth below ten metres, but climbs higher when feeding amongst the protection of other species (2) (7), particularly Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana), with which they have a strong tendency to associate (8), as well as lesser spot-nosed guenons (Cercopithecus petaurista) and king colobus (Colobus polykomos) (5). By foraging with other primate species, the olive colobus benefits from extra eyes and ears to stay alert for predators (8). Males are also believed to use these associations to obtain mating partners; the Diana monkeys are a resource which the males can expect female olive colobus to visit (6). If a predator is spotted, the primary response of the timid olive colobus is to move in to dense foliage and freeze in a hunched or crouched position (2).

The diet of the olive colobus is dominated by young leaves and flowers, with one study showing 27 percent of their diet acquired from lianas, in the tangles of which they spend much of their time (9). Fruit and seeds are also eaten, with the quantities varying seasonally (2), but mature leaves are rarely ingested (9). They eat the food directly off the plant using their mouth, and do not pick it by hand (2).

Top

Olive colobus range

The olive colobus occurs from southern Sierra Leone to Ghana, just east of the Volta River, and also in Nigeria, on the south bank of the River Benue (2) (5).

Top

Olive colobus habitat

Inhabits forest, including rainforest, dry semi-deciduous forest, palm forest, forest margins, swamps forest, and abandoned cultivated areas (2) (5).

Top

Olive colobus status

Classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List (1) and listed on Appendix II of CITES (3).

IUCN Red List species status – Near Threatened

Top

Olive colobus threats

Like many forest-dwelling primates, habitat loss and hunting pose the greatest threat to the existence of the olive colobus (1) (2), and populations may be declining as a result (2). However, a study revealed that the olive colobus may actually be very tolerant of hunting, but is greatly impacted by agriculture invading their natural habitat (10).

Top

Olive colobus conservation

The olive colobus occurs in a number of protected areas (5), such as the Taï National Park in Cote d'Ivoire (11), and is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning that any international trade in this species should be carefully monitored (3). Otherwise, there are no known conservation measures in place specifically aimed at the rarely seen olive colobus.

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Top

Find out more

For further information on colobus monkeys see:

  • Macdonald, D.W. (2006) The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Top

Authentication

Authenticated (26/03/09) by Matthew Richardson, primatologist and author.

Top

Glossary

Deciduous
A plant that sheds its leaves at the end of the growing season.
Top

References

  1. IUCN Red List (October, 2007)
    http://www.iucnredlist.org
  2. Kingdon, J. (1997) The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Academic Press Ltd, London.
  3. CITES (October, 2007)
    http://www.cites.org
  4. Macdonald, D.W. (2006) The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  5. Richardson, M. (2009) Pers. comm.
  6. Korstjens, A.H. and Noë, R. (2004) Mating system of an exceptional primate, the olive colobus (Procolobus verus). American Journal of Primatology, 62(4): 261 - 273.
  7. Stuart, C. and Stuart, T. (1997) Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
  8. Oates, J.F. and Whitesides, G.H. (2005) Association between olive colobus (Procolobus verus), Diana guenons (Cercopithecus diana), and other forest monkeys in Sierra Leone. American Journal of Primatology, 21(2): 129 - 146.
  9. Davies, A.G., Oates, J.F. and Dasilva, G.L. (1999) Patterns of frugivory in three West African colobine monkeys. International Journal of Primatology, 20(3): 327 - 357.
  10. Isaac, N.J.B. and Cowlishaw, G. (2004) How species respond to multiple extinction threats. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 271: 1135 - 1141.
  11. UNEP-WCMC (December, 2007)
    http://www.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/pdf/Tai%20Forest.pdf

More »Related species

Kirk’s red colobus (Procolobus kirkii)Western red colobus (Procolobus badius)Pennant’s red colobus (Procolobus pennantii)Udzungwa red colobus (Procolobus gordonorum)Preuss's red colobus (Procolobus preussi)Eastern red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus)Grey-shanked douc (Pygathrix cinerea)Angola colobus (Colobus angolensis)

Please donate to ARKive today

Help us share the wonders of the natural world. Donate today!

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.

Get involved

ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!

X
Close

Image credit

Olive colobus adult carrying young in mouth  
Olive colobus adult carrying young in mouth

© Marco Polo Film

Marco Polo Film AG
Handschuhsheimer Landstr. 73
Heidelberg
D-69121
Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 6221 400 780
Fax: +49 (0) 6221 400 884
office@marco-polo-film.de
http://www.marco-polo-film.de/

X
Close

Link to this photo

ARKive species - Olive colobus (Procolobus verus) Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.

Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.

Read more about

X
Close

MyARKive

MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.

X
Close

Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials

Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.

Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:

  • view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
  • download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
  • teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.

End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.

Additional use of flagged material

Green flagged material 

Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.

Creative commons material

Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.

Any other use

Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.

Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.