| Western red colobus[1] | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Family: | Cercopithecidae |
| Genus: | Piliocolobus |
| Species: | P. badius |
| Binomial name | |
| Piliocolobus badius (Kerr, 1792) | |
 | |
| Western Red Colobus range (green — extant, orange — possibly extinct) | |
Thewestern red colobus (Piliocolobus badius), also known as thebay red colobus,rust red colobus orUpper Guinea red colobus, is a species ofOld World monkey inWest African forests fromSenegal toGhana.[1] All other species ofred colobuses have formerly been consideredsubspecies ofP. badius. The monkey is a frequent prey of thecommon chimpanzee. In 1994, western red colobus monkeys infected many chimpanzees withEbola virus after being hunted and consumed by the chimps.[3]
According toGroves (2005) the Western red colobus has three subspecies, including thenominate:[1]
P. b. waldronae iscritically endangered, possibly even extinct. The other two subspecies areendangered.[2] Under more recent taxonomies, these are generally considered separate species.[4] Groves concurs with this revision, although not all primatologists agree.[4][5]
The western red colobus grows to a head-and-body length of 450 to 670 mm (18 to 26 in) with a tail of 520 to 800 mm (20 to 31 in), and a weight of between 5 and 11 kg (11 and 24 lb). It has red or chestnut-brown head and limbs and black, slatey-grey or dark brown upper parts. It does not have long fringes of hair, or tufts of hair on the tail. Compared to monkeys in the genusColobus, the nostrils are V-shaped, the digits are long and the big toe short.[6]
The red colobus isendemic to tropical West Africa. Its range includes various fragmentary populations in Sierra Leone, and contiguous populations in Liberia, Guinea and western Ivory Coast. It is unclear exactly where the ranges ofP. b. badius andP. b. temminckii meet, butP. b. badius populations are separated fromP. b. waldronae by theBandama River in Ivory Coast. The red colobus is an arboreal species, typically found in primary rainforest, but also inhabiting secondary forest and gallery forest.[2]
The red colobus lives in colonies of between twelve and eighty members. There are usually several males and up to three times this number of adult females. There is a social hierarchy, giving access to food, space and grooming.[6]
