Blue Monkey

Cercopithecus or guenon monkeys such as this species, the Blue Monkey (Cercopithecus mitis), have been studied in some depth across their range. Guenon monkeys have cheek pouches in which they store fruits, which they feed on and process after moving away from fruiting trees (Lambert 2001), probably to avoid predation and reduce competition between conspecifics. As they forage in the canopy, they swallow fleshy pulp and spit out seeds, many of which get scattered across the forest floor at low densities, thus potentially avoiding high risk of mortality and increasing the odds for survival and subsequent germination and establishment.