Page 90 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

88  WILD SOUTH AFRIC A

Primates Family

Intelligent, hyperactive and graceful, monkeys are among The three species of diurnal
primate that inhabit
the most entertaining of creatures. They are well represented South Africa are all classified
in equatorial Africa, where certain individual forests contain as Old World Monkeys
up to a dozen species, but rather less so in South Africa, (family Cercopithecidae)
where only three species are present. This lack of diversity and placed in the sub-family
Cercopithecinae (cheek-
is attributable to the lack of suitably forested habitats. pouched monkeys).
All of South Africa’s monkeys are Cercopithecids (cheek-
pouched monkeys), an adaptable family of omnivores that
fills many ecological niches from swamp forests to semiarid
plains, and is named for its inner cheek pouch, which can
hold as much food as a full stomach.
Bushbaby
Family: Galagonidae • Best Seen: Kruger, Sabi Sands,
Pilanesberg
Most Species: Variable
More closely related to the lemurs of
Madagascar than to the diurnal monkeys
of the African mainland, bushbabies (or
galagos) are endearing creatures, with
wide round eyes and agile bodies that
enable them to leap between trees.
Formerly, only two species were recog-
nized – greater and lesser bushbaby – but
a pioneering study used calls and genital
patterns to identify around a dozen spe-
cies in East Africa alone. Pending a similar
study in South Africa, the taxonomy of
bushbabies in the region remains inde-
terminate. Seldom seen in daylight, bush-
babies become very active after dark, and
are often seen on night drives in reserves
with suitable wooded savannah habitats. The wide-eyed bushbaby, rarely seen in daylight
Vervet Monkey
Species: Chlorocebus [Aethiops] pygerythrus • Best Seen:
Kruger, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, Durban

LC
Delightful or mischievous, depending on your
point of view, the vervet monkey is one of the
true characters of the African savannah. It lives
in troops of 30–75 animals that are constantly
engaged in interaction of one kind or another,
whether fighting, grooming, carrying their young
on their chest, clambering around branches in
search of fruit, or raiding the nearest lodge’s lunch
buffet. Thought to be the world’s most numer-
ous primate species apart from humans, it is
predominantly terrestrial, though it seldom strays
too far from the trees in which it shelters when
threatened. It is highly intelligent, boasting an
array of different alarm calls that some scientists
have likened to a rudimentary language. Smaller
and lankier than any baboon, the vervet has a
grizzled light olive or grey coat, a black face,
white ruff and pale belly, though this rather
dull coloration is offset in the male by a
The highly intelligent vervet monkey gaudy blue scrotum.
IUCN status LC: Least Concern

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