The Rarely Sighted Primates Of Rwanda : Rwanda has diverse and interesting group which include several species of monkeys, baboons and lemurs. The article basically focuses on primates that are rarely sighted in Rwanda, their distribution and the unique characteristics of each primate.
GOLDEN MONKEYS
The golden monkeys are found in the virunga national park, kibuye forest and volcanoes national park. The golden monkey specie is found in the forests of central Africa and exclusively found in Rwanda, Uganda and democratic republic of Congo. These are among the most amazing and unusual primates on earth and have a golden coat which is permanent. The coat is made up of a golden hair on the monkey’s body and a thicker, shinier coat of gold colored fur on its back. The golden monkeys live in large groups within the forests of central and West Africa. When they go away for feeding in the night, they will all come back to a specific place for sleeping. However golden monkeys are herbivores, they enjoy fruits more than anything yet they also feed on some invertebrates.
BLUE MONKEYS
Blue monkey are found in the equatorial forests in east Africa as well as some parts in Africa. The blue monkeys prefer to live in the canopy of trees which makes it hard for them to be spotted. The blue monkeys are unique because of their coloring and distinctive facial markings. The blue monkeys can be spotted in Nyungwe forest national park and live in a group of females, infants and one single male. At maturity, the young males join the males. When it comes to feeding, they spend longtime playing and grooming each other.
VERVET MONKEY
This is a small primate specie that is found in the eastern and central Africa such as Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique and Rwanda. The vervet monkey can be found in the tropical forests and the open grasslands. The vervet monkeys in Rwanda have a long tail with black and white rings on the end. They are the old world monkeys of the cercopithecidae family natives to Africa.
The vervet monkeys are omnivores and their diet is quite wide because they feed on insects, roots, leaves. In cultivation areas they eat all crops planted.
EASTERN GORILLA
A gorilla is a large ape that belongs to the genus gorilla family and it’s distributed in Africa. These primates are found in the southern province of Rubavu on the slopes of Virunga volcano and the bamboo forests of kivu province. There are three types of gorillas within Rwanda that is mountain gorilla, the western lowland gorilla and the eastern lowland gorilla and they are critically endangered due to poaching, habitat loss among others. The eastern gorillas are unique with a grey back and red chest. They live in family groups of up to 25 individuals and are extremely intelligent and social creatures.
L’HOEST’S MONKEY
The l’hoest’s monkey is a kind of species that is widely spread in the central Africa mostly in the tropical mountain rainforest countries. These are mountain forest dwellers and they like living in the primary moist forests as well as occupy the different levels of the forest altitude which makes it hard to know which altitude level they like to be in.
Socially these monkeys live in groups of females and one male. They are diurnal primates that is to say very active in the morning and evening. When it comes to night they sleep in trees sitting and sometimes sleep holding each other. These have a gestation period of 5 to 6 months and give birth in the late and beginning of the rainy seasons as they target availability of food so that the female can nurse the newborn.
OLIVE BABOON
These are African primates and occupy many different habitats such as savannah forests, Sahara desert and mountainous forests. The name olive was borrowed from its color of the coat and they are sexually dimorphic that is to say the males are bigger than females and their teeth are different in size. The olive baboons have cheek pouch in which they store food while feeding.
The olive baboons live in the group of many females, infants and a few males. The group consists of 15 to 150 individuals and the males are ranked according to their dominance within the group and for the females, the young ones are ranked according to the mothers rank.
HAMLYN’S MONKEY
The Hamlyn’s monkey which is sometimes called the owl faced monkey and live in the east of Congo, Uganda in kibale forest and north Rwanda. The species love to live in high elevation from 900m to 4600m above the sea level.
The Hamlyn’s live in small group of up to or less than 10 individuals. A group is made by females and one single male. They spend most of the time travelling during the day and this makes them hard to be seen along the trails or on road. They as well feed mainly on fruits but can eat leaves and bark when they are available.