The Hamlyn’s monkey, the scientific name Cercopithecus hamlyni, also called the owl-faced monkey, or simply own monkey is a species of Old World monkey that inhabits the bamboo and first rainforests of the Congo.
In this article, I am going to talk about Owl Faced monkeys’ facts, natural habitat, social groups, enemies, length, location, fun facts, live, where do owl-faced monkeys live, the lifespan of owl-faced monkeys, etc.
This species is exceedingly uncommon and identified solely from just a few specimens; little is thought about it.
Nevertheless, these specimens are typically extensively dispersed all through the eastern a part of Congo, from the Epulu River to the Lukuga River and from the Congo River to the Kabale Forest, with one instance in northwestern Rwanda.
Geographically it corresponds fairly intently to a different species of monkey, L’Hoest’s monkey C. lhoesti. It travels on the bottom, and researchers assume that it could be awake primarily by evening.
Owl Faced Monkey Geographic Distribution and Habitat
The Hamlyn’s monkey (Cercopithecus hamlyni) is also called the owl-faced monkey or guenon.
This elusive and weak Owl-Faced Monkey lives at excessive altitudes of three,000–15,000 ft (900–4,500 m) in dense bamboo and first forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
These forests are surrounded by rivers and volcanoes, which forestall the owl-faced monkey from increasing its territory, so the general inhabitants are pretty small.
Teams in eastern Congo are present in a restricted space of the lowland forests that are nestled between the Congo River within the west, the Lindi and Nepoko rivers within the north, and the Virunga volcanoes within the east.
Temperatures within the area common 60–68 levels Fahrenheit (16–20 levels Celsius) with a median yearly rainfall of 49 in (125 cm).
The inhabitants dwelling in Rwanda are proscribed to a small space, 12.3 sq mi (32 sq km) of the Nyungwe National Park, near the border with Burundi.
The Owl-Faced Monkey species is not discovered within the Gishwati forest of northwestern Rwanda.
Owl Faced Monkey Size, Weight, and Lifespan
Hamlyn’s monkeys are sexually dimorphic in dimension; that’s, males are bigger than females. Males are about 20–26 in (50–65 cm) tall and weigh 15–22 lb (7–10 kg); females are 16–21 in (40–55 cm) tall and weigh 10–13 lb (4.5–6 kg).
They’ll dwell as much as 27 years within the wild and as much as 33 years in captivity.
Owl Faced Monkey Look
Hamlyn’s monkeys have a greenish-gray coat with black patches of fur on their underparts and forelimbs.
They owe their nickname of “owl-faced” monkeys to their distinctive facial traits. They’ve very giant eyes, a white vertical nostril stripe, a diadem-like band on the eyebrow line, and a spherical face framed by gray-green hair highlighted by yellow specks of shade.
Hamlyn’s monkey has one subspecies apart from the nominate. In weight, the male is way bigger than the feminine, with the common grownup weighing 7 to 10 kg, whereas females weigh on common 4.5 to six kg.
It’s regarded as a frugivore-folivore in the food plan. Some revealed reviews indicated that Hamlyn’s Monkey lives in small teams, often members or much less, with one male and a number of females, with no information to indicate them occurring in monogamous teams.
The species has been discovered solely in larger elevations, above 900m, and as much as 4600m.
In shade it’s typically darkish grey, with an attribute white stripe that extends from the basis of the nostril to the higher lip, giving it an owl-like look, therefore the title “owl-faced monkey”.
There are two sub-species: Cercopithecus hamlyni hamlyni, discovered within the bamboo forests; and Cercopithecus hamlyni kahuziensis, discovered within the lowlands of the Ituri Forest and South Kivu in DRC.
Within the lowland inhabitants, the nostril stripe is both decreased or lacking and there’s no diadem.
It’s thought that the nostril stripe could also be helpful as camouflage since predators may very well be misled into considering these monkeys are cats.
The pores and skin on the face are darkish (fully black on lowland populations) and coated in tiny darkish hair, apart from a patch of clearer hair across the higher and decrease lips.
They’ve cheek pouches to carry meals whereas foraging. Their arms and toes are totally different from these of different primates, with for much longer phalanges (fingers).
Each woman and men have blue buttocks. The grownup male genitalia is vivid blue and pink; the younger and adolescent male genitalia should not.
Infants and juveniles are a yellow-reddish shade with a pink face, giant pink ears, and pink arms and toes. They don’t have any nostril stripe or diadem. Their eyes are extraordinarily giant.
Owl Faced Monkey Diet
Owl Faced Monkey largely eats bamboo shoots, which they neatly break off from the stems. Additionally, they eat leaves and shrubs of different plant species all year long.
They eat some fungi, flowers, piths, bugs, and lichens, in addition to fruit, like blackberries.
The fruit is a minor part of the food plan of bamboo forests owl-faced monkey populations, however, is extra necessary for populations dwelling in lowland forests.
These dwelling within the Epulu space additionally feed on fallen seeds of the ordeal tree or sassywood (Erythropleum suaveolens) and on sprouting seeds of an evergreen tree known as Gilbertiodendron dewevrei that many different mammals additionally feed on.
Conduct and Life-style
However, what’s it about these apes that remind us of owls? The reply is that they’ve two stripes on their face, one vertical and one horizontal, that kind a T.
These peculiar markings have a white or yellowish shade and stand out in opposition to their darkish fur. Different bodily traits of these primates are:
- Males weigh between 7 and 10 kilograms and females weigh between 4.5 and 6 kilos.
- The physique size of the males is between 50 and 65 centimeters and the females’ are between 40 and 55 centimeters.
- They’ve grey and black, lengthy, dense, and skinny hair.
- The owl-faced monkey is thought to be terrestrial and arboreal. Nevertheless, they like to be on the bottom when shifting round and discovering meals.
- Bamboo is their principal meal supply. However in addition they eat leaves from different bushes in addition to herbs, fruits, and seeds.
They dwell in small teams of not more than 10 people. Inside these teams, there’s a dominant male that stands out and communicates in each an olfactory and vocal method.
Additionally, they use a gland of their thorax to mark their territory. Additionally, they use totally different voices to orientate themselves or when mating.
This primate’s birthing season is between May and October. The gestation interval lasts around 5 or 6 months, after which the newborn is born.
Typically, the feminine won’t become pregnant once more for an additional two years.
Owl Faced Monkey spends most of their time on the bottom, strolling quadrupedally whereas they forage—though they’re completely able to vertical climbing as their elongated phalanges permit them to simply grip moist bamboo.
Due to their distant and densely forested places, Hamlyn’s monkeys are troublesome to watch within the wild.
Though not documented, it’s doubtless that, like related guenon species, they retire to the bushes in the evening and sleep sitting on a department alone or huddling with just a few different group members.
They keep social bonds via grooming; observations in captive populations point out that they spend just a few hours a day grooming each other.
Like different guenons, it’s possible that the rank of the feminine within the group is set by her age—the youngest sister is larger in rank than her older sisters.
Day Life and Group Dynamics
This diurnal creature lives in teams consisting of 1 dominant male and several other breeding females and offspring.
Females keep their natal group and males disperse as they arrive at age. They could change the group in a number of instances over time. The typical group dimension is 5 and the utmost is 11 people.
Though there isn’t any literature particular to the species on the topic, it’s in all probability secure to imagine that—like most members of the guenon household—affiliated females keep robust bonds with one another all through their lives, whereas grownup males are illiberal of one another.
This assumption is corroborated by data present in zoos, the place the introduction of unrelated Hamlyn’s monkey females to one another has solely been often profitable, and the introduction of two grownup males have persistently resulted in fights—besides in a single case the place the 2 males have been father and son.
Communication
Owl-faced monkeys all the time vocalize at daybreak to start out the day. They use a number of vocalizations to speak their location, hold the group collectively, appeal to a mate, and warn the group if predators are approaching. These vocalizations embrace growth calls.
In comparison with different primate species, their vocalizations are comparatively quiet. The feminine’s name is a whimpering quaver, whereas the males are a deep growth.
Infants use high-pitched chirps however be taught shortly to make use of decrease, quieter calls.
Each male and females have a scent gland on the chest that they use to rub bushes and mark their territory.
The scents permit them to detect the presence of non-group members trespassing on their turf.
These monkeys have a restricted vary of visible cues to speak with one another. The one-two communication gestures identified are tilting of the top and flashing of the genitals.
Reproduction and Family
Females give beginning to at least one offspring every two years, between Could and October, after a six-month gestation.
Infants are born with yellow coats and pink faces, missing the facial patterns of adults. Juveniles—about 4 months in age—are simply recognizable.
They’ve brighter colors than adults, with extra yellow on the face, throat, higher chest, and facet of the face.
Their again and limbs are brownish. Juveniles’ coloring darkens progressively over time; the white stripe and diadem additionally seem once they turn older.
Infants and juveniles are carried by their moms. As a result of Hamlyn’s monkeys are troublesome to watch within the wild, there isn’t any documentation indicating that non-maternal females assist look after infants within the group, as has been reported in different guenon species.
Males don’t work together a lot with offspring, however, their vigilance protects them from predation and assaults from different males.
Females turn into adults at around 5 years outdated, males achieve this when they’re 6 or 7 years outdated.
Owl Faced Monkey Ecological Function
Like different primates, they play a job of their ecosystem as seed dispersers.
Conservation Standing and Threats
The Hamlyn’s monkey species is classed as Susceptible by the Internation Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, 2018), showing on the Crimson Checklist of Threatened Species.
The species’ inhabitants are in decline. It’s troublesome to have a correct depend on the present inhabitants as a result of the Hamlyn’s monkey blends into its environment, because of its pelage coloring.
Pure predators embrace leopards, golden cats, and people (resulting from encroachment and land conversion, but additionally resulting from looking for bushmeat).
Regardless of the gazetting of the Nyungwe park in 1933, individuals began to take advantage of the forest for gold mining as early as 1935.
Within the 1950s, there have been about 3,000 miners working within the native watersheds.
Unlawful harvesting of bamboo, honey assortment, tree chopping, and looking by no means stopped and proceed to be a menace to the native fauna and flora.
The forest misplaced 1 / 4 of its floor between 1958 and 1979, largely resulting from agricultural land growth. 90% of the native inhabitants depend on subsistence farming.
As well as, all species and the surroundings endure from the implications of the various human conflicts within the area and the ensuing inhabitant’s displacements.
Owl Faced Monkey Conservation Efforts
The Nyugwe Nationwide Park in Rwanda is likely one of the few protected lands within the nation.
It’s dwelling to 1,200 plant species, 275 hen species, and lots of different animals, together with 13 primate species—probably the most threatened of which is the Hamlyn’s monkey.
A current report reveals that efforts to guard bamboo forests and different previous initiatives haven’t yielded the anticipated outcomes.
There may be hope although with schooling on sustainable harvesting of bamboo and the implementation of the 2020 plan to extend entry to electrical energy for 35% of the inhabitants in Rwanda, the dependence of the native inhabitants on wooden and bamboo merchandise will lower.
In 1984, the forest was divided by the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and the Swiss authorities.
They wished to implement zones the place timber harvesting was permitted and others the place harvest was restricted.
The Wildlife Conservation Society additionally established its analysis station that the very same 12 months.
Sadly, the venture was affected by the 1994 genocide. It did survive and there is research performed at the moment, together with some on the Hamlyn’s monkey.
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