Gabon talapoin

Northern dwarf guenon ( Miopithecus ogouensis ) in Prague zoo

The Northern dwarf guenon ( Miopithecus ogouensis ) is a primate of the family Cercopithecidae ( Cercopithecidae ). Only since 1997 she has been separated as a distinct species from the Southern dwarf guenon.

Features

Together with their southern relatives are the Northern dwarf monkeys with around 32 to 45 centimeters in body length and weighing from 1.1 to 1.4 kilograms, the smallest Old World monkeys. Their fur is yellowish - white on the top and gray-green at the bottom. The head is relatively large and the snout short. From the southern way they differ is that the ears and hairless face flesh-colored skin and are not blackish.

Distribution and habitat

Minke monkeys live in the middle of Africa. Its distribution area covers the south of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of Congo and the Angolan enclave of Cabinda. The Congo River forms the southern boundary of its range, south of the South live dwarf monkeys. Their habitat are river forests and other forests near water.

Way of life

Dwarf monkeys are diurnal and arboreal, but can also swim well. They live in large groups of 60 to 100 animals, consisting of about twice as many females as males. Search for food, they are broken down into smaller, single-sex subgroups. Their diet consists mainly of insects and fruits, but they also take up other parts of plants and small animals to him.

After a 160 - day gestation, the female gives birth to usually a single, relatively large young is born.

Endangering

The degree of exposure of the Northern dwarf monkey is unclear. The hunting plays because of the small body size does not matter, the main threat is likely to represent the habitat destruction. The IUCN summarizes the two dwarf monkeys to a kind and lists them as not at risk.

System

At least since the 1960s, it was known that the northern populations of dwarf monkeys may represent a separate, initially unnamed type. The formal notification was carried out only in 1997, the epithet ogouensis playing on the river Ogooué on.