Temminck’s Red Colobus
Piliocolobus badius temminckii
Geographic Distribution and Habitat
Temminck’s red colobus monkeys are endemic to Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. Although not confirmed, the species may also be present in Sierra Leone.
They live in protected forests such as Abuko Nature Reserve and Pirang Forest Park (Gambia), Badiar National Park (Guinea), Cufada Lagoons Natural Park and Cantanhez Forest National Park (Guinea-Bissau), and Niokolo Koba National Park (Senegal).
Their natural habitat includes primary, secondary, and gallery forests. In addition, some groups in Senegal are found in savannah woodland, mangroves, and agricultural areas.
Temminck’s red colobus monkeys are endemic to Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. Although not confirmed, the species may also be present in Sierra Leone.
They live in protected forests such as Abuko Nature Reserve and Pirang Forest Park (Gambia), Badiar National Park (Guinea), Cufada Lagoons Natural Park and Cantanhez Forest National Park (Guinea-Bissau), and Niokolo Koba National Park (Senegal).
Their natural habitat includes primary, secondary, and gallery forests. In addition, some groups in Senegal are found in savannah woodland, mangroves, and agricultural areas.
Temminck's Red Colobus geographic range. Map: IUCN, 2020
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Size, Weight, and Lifespan
Temminck’s red colobus monkeys can weigh up to 22 pounds (10 kg) and are between 18 and 27 inches (46–80 cm) tall. Their tail is about the same length as their body—between 16 and 30 inches (42–80 cm). They can live up to 16 years in the wild. Appearance
These strikingly beautiful monkeys have a long and silky coat which appears soft to the touch. The pelage is black on top of the head, the back, the upper arms, and the legs. By contrast, their belly, forearms, hands, and cheeks are mahogany-red. Their face is triangular, with deep sunken brown eyes framed by large orbital bones. Their nose appears rather large. Their mouth is thin and their chin almost non-existent. Their face is black with patches of pink skin showing through. Their ears are round and similar in shape to ours but shorter and thicker. The hair above their eyes could be mistaken for bushy eyebrows. They have a narrow chest and a large belly. Like all colobine monkeys, their sacculated stomach helps them digest the cellulose in the vegetation they consume. Their limbs, hands, and fingers are very long. Their hands do not have thumbs—a feature characteristic of monkeys who use brachiation as a mode of locomotion. In fact, the Temminck’s red colobus is the only African monkey known to brachiate—i.e., swing from branch to branch. |
What Does It Mean?Anthropogenic:
Environmental disturbance or environmental pollution originating in human activity. Encroachment: Intrusion on an animal’s territory. Parasite: An organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment. Pelage: The fur, hair, or wool of a mammal. Predation: Preying of one animal on others. |
Photo credit: Allan Hopkins/Flickr/Creative Commons
Diet
Temminck’s red colobus monkeys spend a quarter of their time feeding when food is abundant. They consume mostly fruit, seeds, leaf buds, mature leaves, and flowers. They eat more fruit during the rainy season and more leaves during the dry season, but the fruit-to-leaf ratio depends greatly on their location, as does the variety of plants they eat. For example, 105 plant species were reported as food sources in Abuko Nature Reserve, but only 39 in Fathala Forest.
Primarily arboreal monkeys, their water needs are generally met from the plants they consume or from standing water in the crooks of trees. In optimum conditions, they rarely descend to the ground because doing so exposes them to greater risks of predation and diseases transmitted through parasites found in standing water. However, this is not true for the Temminck’s red colobuses who inhabit degraded forests, such as those in Abuko Nature Reserve and Bijilo Forest Park in the Gambia. They descend to the ground to drink. The monkeys observed visiting the water pools there during the wet season (June–October) are mostly lactating females and juveniles. As well as having a drink, they spend time engaging in social behavior like play-chases.
At Kiang-West National Park in the Gambia, rangers use boreholes to provide freshwater to red colobus monkeys during the dry season. Farmers in Kabokorr, Gambia, have reported seeing monkeys crossing the main highway to access pools of freshwater. It is thought that climate change-induced drought is a factor in the decline of red colobus monkey populations in the region.
Temminck’s red colobus monkeys spend a quarter of their time feeding when food is abundant. They consume mostly fruit, seeds, leaf buds, mature leaves, and flowers. They eat more fruit during the rainy season and more leaves during the dry season, but the fruit-to-leaf ratio depends greatly on their location, as does the variety of plants they eat. For example, 105 plant species were reported as food sources in Abuko Nature Reserve, but only 39 in Fathala Forest.
Primarily arboreal monkeys, their water needs are generally met from the plants they consume or from standing water in the crooks of trees. In optimum conditions, they rarely descend to the ground because doing so exposes them to greater risks of predation and diseases transmitted through parasites found in standing water. However, this is not true for the Temminck’s red colobuses who inhabit degraded forests, such as those in Abuko Nature Reserve and Bijilo Forest Park in the Gambia. They descend to the ground to drink. The monkeys observed visiting the water pools there during the wet season (June–October) are mostly lactating females and juveniles. As well as having a drink, they spend time engaging in social behavior like play-chases.
At Kiang-West National Park in the Gambia, rangers use boreholes to provide freshwater to red colobus monkeys during the dry season. Farmers in Kabokorr, Gambia, have reported seeing monkeys crossing the main highway to access pools of freshwater. It is thought that climate change-induced drought is a factor in the decline of red colobus monkey populations in the region.
Behavior and Lifestyle
These arboreal monkeys thrive in the forest canopy at heights between 65 and 130 feet (20–40 m).
These arboreal monkeys thrive in the forest canopy at heights between 65 and 130 feet (20–40 m).
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Daily Life and Group Dynamics
Temminck’s red colobuses live in groups that vary in size depending on location. These multi-male, multi-female groups can include 20 to 100 individuals. The ratio between males and females is not equal and smaller groups tend to have fewer males than females; some only have one adult male. These monkeys are often observed stretched out on branches with feet and arms hanging when resting—which they do about 50% of the time, when they’re not traveling, feeding, playing, or grooming. Infants, especially males, play a lot. Juveniles, subadults, and adult females play more frequently than males in the same age group. Females, moreso than males, spend time on their own, observing or interacting with objects, such as dead branches and large leaves, which they sometimes roll, swat, or throw. During intergroup encounters, chases, attacks, and fights can occur, in which even pregnant females participate. Communication
Temminck’s red colobus monkeys use many vocalizations. Each has a different meaning depending on context. Chirps, barks, yelps, squeals or screams, sneezes or coughs, whines, and squawks, as well as wa-ah, wa, woo, ack, and eh sounds, are all part of their vocabulary. |
Fun FactsThe Temminck’s red colobus monkey is named after Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778–1858), a Dutch bird specialist, zoologist, and museum director. Hunting and handling primate bushmeat causes serious health risks to humans because pathogens and viruses are known to be transmittable from animals to humans. Some Temminck’s red colobus groups live in the savannah in Senegal. This is the only red colobus species known to live in savannah habitat. |
Reproduction and Family
Males become sexually mature at 2.5 years old; females mature a little later when they are about 3, but they usually do not give birth for another year or so. Temminck’s red colobus females bear infants every two years. Even though they have encounters with multiple males, including males from other groups, females show a strong preference for the dominant male of their own group.
Females come in estrous during the wet season, when food is most abundant, and exhibit perineal swellings for 4 to 8 days. Infants are born during the dry season, after a gestation period of about 170 days (almost 6 months). Births usually occur at night or very early in the morning. After giving birth, it is suspected that the new mothers eat the placenta to replenish lost protein.
Due to falls, disease, or infanticide by males of the group, 20% of infants do not survive their first 5 months.
Although mothers allow their offspring to take food from them, they do not share it voluntarily.
Males become sexually mature at 2.5 years old; females mature a little later when they are about 3, but they usually do not give birth for another year or so. Temminck’s red colobus females bear infants every two years. Even though they have encounters with multiple males, including males from other groups, females show a strong preference for the dominant male of their own group.
Females come in estrous during the wet season, when food is most abundant, and exhibit perineal swellings for 4 to 8 days. Infants are born during the dry season, after a gestation period of about 170 days (almost 6 months). Births usually occur at night or very early in the morning. After giving birth, it is suspected that the new mothers eat the placenta to replenish lost protein.
Due to falls, disease, or infanticide by males of the group, 20% of infants do not survive their first 5 months.
Although mothers allow their offspring to take food from them, they do not share it voluntarily.
Photo credit: Allan Hopkins/Flickr/Creative Commons
Ecological Role
Temminck’s red colobuses contribute to the health of the forests they live in by spreading seeds through their feces.
Temminck’s red colobuses contribute to the health of the forests they live in by spreading seeds through their feces.
Conservation Status and Threats
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists Temminck’s red colobus monkeys as Endangered (IUCN, 2020), appearing on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. It is estimated that only 2,500 individuals are left in the wild.
Threats to these monkeys are many. The most serious threats are habitat loss and forest fragmentation due to human encroachment. Indeed, human populations in the countries where these monkeys live have doubled between 1990 and 2020. People need access to natural resources, agriculture, and infrastructure. Thus logging, crop cultivation, and construction have resulted in extensive deforestation—as is the case in Guinea, which lost 50% of its forest cover between 1964 and 1991. Temminck’s red colobuses are not particularly adept at surviving in degraded habitats. Forest fragmentation is particularly problematic because it limits females’ opportunities to reproduce. They cannot disperse as far as they would in continuous forests and consequently, the gene pool is shrinking. |
Temminck’s colobus monkeys are also hunted for food and for their body parts. In the Gambia, they are considered pests and are killed to defend crops.
Climate change is another important factor that threatens their forests. In the Fathala Forest Reserve in Senegal, decreasing rainfalls are responsible for most of the forest loss.
Finally, countries do not always have enough financial or human resources to implement the laws prohibiting logging and hunting, even in protected areas.
In some areas, like Fathala Forest, Galat-Luong, and Galat, Temminck’s red colobus monkeys have changed their ways over the past thirty years to adapt as best they can. For instance, the monkeys eat more fruit, use more open spaces, spend more time on the ground, peacefully share territory with green monkeys, and use mangrove forests for food and shelter.
Their natural predators include leopards, chimpanzees, crowned eagles, crocodiles, and rock pythons.
Climate change is another important factor that threatens their forests. In the Fathala Forest Reserve in Senegal, decreasing rainfalls are responsible for most of the forest loss.
Finally, countries do not always have enough financial or human resources to implement the laws prohibiting logging and hunting, even in protected areas.
In some areas, like Fathala Forest, Galat-Luong, and Galat, Temminck’s red colobus monkeys have changed their ways over the past thirty years to adapt as best they can. For instance, the monkeys eat more fruit, use more open spaces, spend more time on the ground, peacefully share territory with green monkeys, and use mangrove forests for food and shelter.
Their natural predators include leopards, chimpanzees, crowned eagles, crocodiles, and rock pythons.
Conservation Efforts
Because this species is especially impacted by forest fragmentation and groups are collapsing or disappearing from areas they once thrived in, it is imperative for existing corridors to be maintained, to build new corridors, to prevent illegal logging and hunting, and to restore suitable forest habitat. Conservation efforts need to be prioritized to address the areas most in need, like Guinea Bissau and the Gambia, which has lost over 50% of its Temminck’s red colobus monkeys since 2015.
Several organizations are hard at work attempting to ensure the survival of the species. The University of Cumbria (UK), National Geographic, and Global Wildlife Conservation set up two key sites in the Gambia. Their areas of focus are the protection of the Pirang Forest National Park, primate monitoring, environmental education, and finding solutions to provide for the livelihood of local human communities, while reducing anthropogenic pressure on forest habitat.
The Red Colobus Action Plan (ReCAP)—a collaborative effort under the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group and the African Primatology Society—was created to prevent the decline and extinction of red colobus monkeys. Their goals are to increase government investment and establish community-based conservation areas, monitor red colobus monkey populations, facilitate access to human communities to healthcare and family planning, and raise local, national, and global awareness regarding the plight of the species.
Because this species is especially impacted by forest fragmentation and groups are collapsing or disappearing from areas they once thrived in, it is imperative for existing corridors to be maintained, to build new corridors, to prevent illegal logging and hunting, and to restore suitable forest habitat. Conservation efforts need to be prioritized to address the areas most in need, like Guinea Bissau and the Gambia, which has lost over 50% of its Temminck’s red colobus monkeys since 2015.
Several organizations are hard at work attempting to ensure the survival of the species. The University of Cumbria (UK), National Geographic, and Global Wildlife Conservation set up two key sites in the Gambia. Their areas of focus are the protection of the Pirang Forest National Park, primate monitoring, environmental education, and finding solutions to provide for the livelihood of local human communities, while reducing anthropogenic pressure on forest habitat.
The Red Colobus Action Plan (ReCAP)—a collaborative effort under the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group and the African Primatology Society—was created to prevent the decline and extinction of red colobus monkeys. Their goals are to increase government investment and establish community-based conservation areas, monitor red colobus monkey populations, facilitate access to human communities to healthcare and family planning, and raise local, national, and global awareness regarding the plight of the species.
References:
- IUCN Red List 2020 - www.iucnredlist.org
- Dry season drinking from terrestrial man-made watering holes in arboreal Wild Temminck’s red colobus, The Gambia - A. P. Hillyer, R. Armstrong, A.H. Korstjens
- The attainment of independence from the mother in primate infants and its implications for the evolution of cooperative breeding in hominids - I Badescu
- Comparison of Play Frequency in Four Sympatric Monkeys in Kibale National Park, Uganda - Sara G Lucci - CUNY Hunter College
- Genetic Consequences of Human Forest Exploitation in Two Colobus Monkeys in Guinea Bissau - Tania Minhós, Lounès Chikhi, Cláudia Sousa, Luis M Vicente, Maria Ferreira da Silva, Rasmus Heller, Catarina Casanova and Michael W. Bruford
- Lifeline for Africa’s most threatened primates - University of Cumbria
- redcolobusnetwork.org - The Action Plan
- A New Hotspot for Temminck’s Red Colobus (Piliocolobus radius temminckii) in The Gambia: The Feasibility of a Community Approach to Conservation - Michael Mayhew, Jennifer Danzy Cramer, Lisa Fenton, Alex Dittrich and Roy Armstrong
- Mammals of Africa - Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Thomas Butynski, Michael Hoffmann, Meredith Happold, Jan Kalina
Written by Sylvie Abrams, November 2020
