Moustached monkey
The moustached guenon or moustached monkey (Cercopithecus cephus ) is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.
The moustached guenon belongs to the genus Cercopithecus, also known as the Old World monkeys and in the cephus group among all guenon monkeys. It is named by its unique moustached face in the monkeys, which has three recognized subspecies: (1) Red-tailed moustached monkey (C. cephus cephus) ; (2) Gray-tailed Moustached Monkey (C.cephus cephodes ); (3) White-nosed Moustached Monkey (C. cephus ngottoensis ). However, the cephus group also includes many other long-tailed monkey that has other unique morphological patterns except the moustache, for example, the regular red-tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius ), the red-bellied monkey (C. e. erythrogaster ) and the white-throated monkey (Cercopithecus erythrogaster). The diversity of the moustached guenon is one of the highest among Cercopithecus species. In addition, it is not the only primate genus with the "moustached" patterns (see also moustached tamarins).
This monkey is an arboreal, omnivorous, and medium-sized mammal. According to the IUCN, the population of the moustached monkeys is considered to be large; therefore, they are widely used in biological labs.
For adults, the average weight of this species is around 4.1 kg for males and 3.6 kg for females. The average length (head-to-body) is 58 cm for males and 49 cm for females; and the average tail length is 78 cm for males and 69.5 cm for females.
Cercopithecus cephus usually live in undistributed forests, and they are not easy to be recorded by ground-level cameras because they are arboreal. The C. cephus are diurnal and share vertical spaces with other species. They are born to jump between the tropical trees (up to 20m from a tree to another), and they are widespread in Gabon and Northern Congo. The main region starts from the Sanaga River's South and East side and goes all the way to the Ubangi watersheds, which are mostly covered by the lowland tropical rainforests; however, the gallery forests, flooded forests and mangrove forests are also available for them.
