Predation of L'Hoest's monkeys by common chimpanzees has been observed in the Kahuzi forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Additionally, crowned hawk-eagles prey on guenons, including L'Hoest's monkeys. To escape eagles, they flee on the ground, which is uncharacteristic of primates. L'Hoest's monkeys are also hunted by humans for bushmeat.
Known Predators:
L’Hoest’s monkeys are large, strikingly patterned monkeys with long limbs and a long tail. Females weigh approximately 3.5 kg, while males weigh approximately 6 kg. They are usually 31.7 to 68.6 cm in length, and tail length ranges from 48.3 to 99.1 cm. L'Hoest's monkeys are mostly covered in short dark gray fur, and they have a large chestnut saddle pattern on their back. There is also a distinctive large, conspicuous patch of white fluffy fur from the throat across the sides of the head almost to the ears. Their limbs and belly are black. Their face is mostly dark, with paler pinkish-white areas around the eyes and nose. Their long tail is medium gray, blacker near the tip, and is often held so the tip bends forward. Their eyes are bright orange. In males, the scrotum is bright blue in color, but otherwise both sexes are similar in coloration. L'Hoest's monkeys have narrow feet which aide running on the ground. They also have cheek pouches, used to carry food while foraging.
Range mass: 3.5 to 6 kg.
Range length: 31.7 to 68.6 cm.
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger; sexes colored or patterned differently; male more colorful
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
The lifespan of L'Hoest's monkeys in the wild is currently unknown. One captive specimen lived to be 24.1 years of age.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 24.1 (high) years.
L'Hoest's monkeys reside in montane tropical rainforests, including both primary and secondary forests. In secondary forests, they occupy the thick underbrush that grows where trees have fallen. L'Hoest's monkeys can be found at altitudes ranging from 900 to 2,500 m. The species is typically more terrestrial than other guenons.
Range elevation: 900 to 2500 m.
Habitat Regions: tropical
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; rainforest ; mountains
L'Hoest's monkeys, Cercopithecus lhoesti, were formerly classifed as a single speices with two other taxa of western Africa, Preuss's Monkey (Cercopithecus preussi) and Sun-tailed Monkey (Cercopithecus solatus).
L'Hoest's monkeys occassionally flee from predators while on the ground, which necessitates coordination, though the manner of this coordination is unknown. When females are ready to mate, they direct their hindquarters toward a male, know as presenting. L'Hoest's monkeys also utilize a variety of behaviors as a threat display. Staring involves fixing the eyes on a subject, raising the eyebrows, stretching the facial skin, and moving the ears back. Often, they open their mouth but do not display their teeth. Additionally, they may engage in head-bobbing, which often occurs with staring with an open mouth, and is also a threat display.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; chemical
L'Hoest's monkeys are considered vulnerable by the ICUN Red List and endangered by the US Federal List. Populations are decreasing because of deforestation due to agricultural expansion as well as hunting. L'Hoest's monkeys were at one point listed in Appendix II by The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which means international trade of this species is monitored. However, hunting of this species for bushmeat still occurs. L'Hoest's monkeys are most vulnerable to snares and shotgun hunting.
US Federal List: endangered
CITES: appendix ii
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: vulnerable
L'Hoest's monkeys are occasionally infected with Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, or SIV. When transmitted to humans, this virus becomes HIV.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (carries human disease)
L'Hoest's monkeys are hunted for bushmeat.
Positive Impacts: food
Due to their semi-frugivorous diet, L’Hoest’s monkeys play a role in seed dispersal. Members of this species are known to host two types of gastrointestinal worm parasites, Strongyloides fulleborni and a species of Trichurus.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
The diet of L'Hoest's monkeys consists mainly of fruits, leaves, and invertebrates. Invertebrates typically constitute a little less than half of the diet, while fruits and plant materials make up over 50%. However, in some locations, the dietary percentage of invertebrates is as low as 9%. L’Hoest’s monkeys usually forage for mushrooms, terrestrial herbs, and arthropods in the lower strata of the forest and search the upper strata for small fruits, buds, flowers, young leaves (which have more protein than mature leaves), and herbaceous stems. They often look for arthropods in shallow streams, fallen leaves, trunks, and branches of the forests. L'Hoest's monkeys favor fruits of Myrianthus arboreus, Polycias fulva, Musanga leo-errerae, and Ficus spp. Some invertebrates in their diet include insects, earthworms, spiders, ants, and grasshoppers. L'Hoest's monkeys also have cheek pouches, in which they carry food while foraging.
Animal Foods: insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods
Plant Foods: leaves; wood, bark, or stems; fruit; flowers
Other Foods: fungus
Primary Diet: carnivore (Eats non-insect arthropods); herbivore (Folivore , Frugivore , Lignivore); omnivore
L’Hoest’s monkeys (Cercopithecus lhoesti) are found in montane forests of the Albertine Rift, including southwestern Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Biogeographic Regions: ethiopian (Native )
L'Hoest's monkeys are polygynous. A single male lives and mates with many females. When males have reached sexual maturity they leave the group. When females are ready to mate, they direct their hindquarters toward a male, know as presenting.
Mating System: polygynous
Female L’Hoest's monkeys usually give birth every other year at the end of the dry season. On average, females L'Hoest's monkeys produce a single offspring after 5 months of gestation. Infants are born with their eyes open and fully covered in brown fur. Their fur darkens to adult coloration around 2 to 3 months of age. Young L'Hoest's monkeys nurse until mothers birth another offspring, but frequency of nursing considerably decreases after the first few months. On average, weaning occurs around 1 year of age. When males reach sexual maturity, they leave the group.
Breeding interval: L'Hoest's monkeys usually breed every other year.
Average number of offspring: 1.
Average gestation period: 5 months.
Average weaning age: 24 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; induced ovulation ; fertilization ; viviparous
After birth, a baby L'Hoest's monkey clings to its mother's belly while she licks it clean. Females in the group try to hold new infants. Because social groups are composed of related females and young, parental care likely occurs. Young L'Hoest's monkeys often entwine their tail with their mother's.
Parental Investment: female parental care ; pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); post-independence association with parents
L'Hoest's monkey (Allochrocebus lhoesti), also known as the mountain monkey, is a guenon found in the upper eastern Congo basin. They mostly live in mountainous forest areas in small, female-dominated groups. They have a dark coat and can be distinguished by a characteristic white beard.
It was Philip Lutley Sclater who originally gave the specific name Cercopithecus lhoesti in honor of Michel L'Hoest, director of the Antwerp Zoo, in 1898.[3]
L'Hoest's monkey is currently classified as a member of the genus Allochrocebus.[4][5] Formerly, L'Hoest's monkey included the taxon preussi from the Gulf of Guinea region as a subspecies,[6] but it is now considered a separate species, Preuss's monkey (A. preussi).
L'Hoest's monkey was formerly included in the genus Cercopithecus.[1] Molecular studies published by Anthony Tosi in 2003 had raised doubts about the classification of L'Hoest's monkey as a member of the genus Cercopithecus. The studies indicated that L'Hoest's monkey (along with the others in its species group) is more closely related to the vervet monkeys of the genus Chlorocebus and the patas monkey (genus Erythrocebus) than to the other guenons of the genus Cercopithecus.[7][8]
C. lhoesti has a short, dark brown coat, with a chestnut color across the back and a dark belly. Its cheeks are light gray with a pale moustache. It has a characteristic and prominent white bib,[9] In body length it is 12.5 to 27 inches (32 to 69 cm), with a 19-to-39-inch (48 to 99 cm) tail.[10] The male weighs about 6 kilograms (13 lb), while the smaller female weighs 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb). Its tail is long and hook-shaped at the end.[11] They are born fully coated and with their eyes open.[10]
L'Hoest's monkey occurs in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and western Uganda.[12] It is a forest monkey, which is typical of the moist and high primary forests. It will occupy a range of different kinds of forested areas, including gallery forest, mature lowland rain forests, wooded savanna at mountain slopes, and forest borders. However, it also will live on cultivated lands. In lowland forests it shows a preference toward areas where the forest is regenerating, while in mountain areas it will frequent the mature, tangled, undergrowth below the broken canopy. One study found this population only above 900 metres (3,000 ft) but another found it as low as 610 metres (2,000 ft). Another mostly observed it from 1,500 to 2,500 metres (4,900 to 8,200 ft).[13]
C. lhoesti lives in fairly small groups dominated by females and have only a single male. The females are usually related, while the male stays only a couple of weeks or at most a couple of years. The adult male will make very loud and distinct calls.[11] They are active during the day, mostly during early morning and late afternoon. They sleep in trees in a sitting position, usually either holding branches or each other. When they are alarmed or see they are being observed they will flee and take shelter in trees, and after become very still.[10][14] They are mostly terrestrial.[6]
L'Hoest's monkey breeds seasonally, with the timing depending on the area. After about a five-month gestation period, a single young will be born. The mother gives birth typically at night and where ever she happens to be at the time. Birth usually occurs at the end of the dry season, which allows lactation when rainfall is highest.[10] She will eat the placenta and lick the baby clean while it hangs on to her belly. The other females in the group will show much interest in the newborn and will try to hold it. After a few months nursing becomes less frequent, but will continue for about two years when there is another birth. When male offspring reach sexual maturity they will leave the group.[11] In captivity they have been known to live for more than 30 years.[15]
In the wild L'Hoest's monkey is primarily a herbivore, which will mostly eat fruit, mushrooms, herbs,[16] roots, and leaves. However, it will also occasionally eat eggs, lizards, and small birds.[10]
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feeding, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda .jpg)
Colchester Zoo, England L'Hoest's monkey (Allochrocebus lhoesti), also known as the mountain monkey, is a guenon found in the upper eastern Congo basin. They mostly live in mountainous forest areas in small, female-dominated groups. They have a dark coat and can be distinguished by a characteristic white beard.
