Red Colobus Monkey (Procolobus badius)
The
colour of these
monkeys varies from light orange to orange-red. The young of either
sex have colourings that
mimic that of the
female to prevent the
adult males evicting them from the group.
They exist in mixed groups of between 60 and 80 monkeys or groups of 8 to 40 males. As the monkey consumes mainly young
shoots,
leaves and
fruits, they can be found in the low
canopy of
forests. The main concentrations are central and eastern Africa. However, one of the few places you can actually get up close to these
rare monkeys is on the island of
Zanzibar, just off of the
east coast of
Africa. There is a large reserve in the Jozani
forest where the monkeys roam freely.
In my
opinion it was a really amazing experience to be able to get that close to
animals in the
wild, and see them in their natural
habitat. However, I was in Zanzibar in 1996 and things may have changed somewhat since then due to increases in tourism !
Oh, and beware of the "
Zanzibar leopard" last seen a long time ago, but still used to amuse the
visitors!