Pennant's colobus or Pennant's red colobus (''Piliocolobus pennantii'') is a species of tree-dwelling

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

in the family

Cercopithecidae Old World monkeys are primates in the family (biology), family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genus, genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus ''Papio''), red colo ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to tropical Central Africa. Three subspecies have traditionally been recognised but their distribution is peculiarly disjunct and has been considered a biogeographical puzzle, with one population on the island of

Bioko Bioko (; ; ; historically known as Fernando Pó, ) is an island of Equatorial Guinea. It is located south of the coast of Cameroon, and northwest of the northernmost part of mainland Equatorial Guinea. Malabo, on the north coast of the is ...

(

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

), a second in the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...

Delta in southern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and a third in the east-central

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

. It is found in rainforests and marshy forests. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and hunting for

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are Hunting, hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the worl ...

Taxonomy and etymology

Pennant's colobus was first described in 1838 by

George Robert Waterhouse George Robert Waterhouse (6 March 1810 – 21 January 1888) was an English natural history, naturalist. He was a keeper at the department of geology and later curator of the Zoological Society of London's museum. Early life George was born ...

, curator at the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

's museum, and was named in honour of the naturalist and traveller

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (16 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had ...

. Three subspecies of this

red colobus Red colobuses are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Piliocolobus''. It was formerly considered a subgenus within the genus '' Procolobus'', which is now restricted to the olive colobus. They are closely related to the black-and-white colobus mon ...

are traditionally recognized: The Bioko red colobus (''Procolobus pennantii pennantii''), the Niger Delta red colobus (''Procolobus pennantii epieni'') and

Bouvier's red colobus Bouvier's red colobus (''Piliocolobus bouvieri'') is a species of colobus monkey rediscovered in the Republic of the Congo in 2015, after four decades without a confirmed sighting. Description Bouvier's red colobus has brownish-red fur on its bo ...

(''Procolobus pennantii bouvieri''). However, Groves (2007) raised ''P. p. epieni'', and ''P. p. bouvieri'' to ''Piliocolobus epieni'' and ''Piliocolobus bouvieri'', respectively (this nomenclature has been followed here). Ting agreed that preliminary genetic evidence supported elevating ''P. epieni'' at least. The word "colobus" comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

'' κολοβός'', meaning "cut short", and is so named because of the significant reduction in size, or complete lack of an opposable thumb in comparison to other primates. To make up for this, they have four long digits that align to form a strong hook, allowing them to easily grasp branches and climb.Jorgensen, Matthew. (2009). "Behavioral Application in Wildlife Photography: Developing a Foundation in Ecological and Behavioral Characteristics of the Zanzibar red colobus Monkey (''Procolobus kirkii'') as it Applies to the Development Exhibition Photography". SIT – Zanzibar Coastal Ecology and Natural Resource Management.

Description

Pennant's red colobus is a moderate-sized species with a head and body length of and a tail of . It weighs about . It has a small head and robust body with long limbs. The long fingers have a powerful grip for climbing about among the branches, but it has no thumbs. The colouration varies between subspecies, being black or some shade of brown with chestnut-brown or reddish face, arms and legs and pale underparts. The black face is crowned with long hair, usually parted in the middle.Pennant's red colobus
. ARKive. Accessed 2013-09-03 Red colobus monkeys have a long tail used only for balancing which is not

prehensile Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely derived from a number of different origin ...

Distribution and habitat

Pennant's red colobus is found in several locations in western Central Africa. The nominate subspecies, ''P. p. pennantii'' is endemic to

, an island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. The monkeys are largely restricted to the south-west part of the island and have a total range of less than . The suggestion that this species has been found on Pico Basile, the highest mountain on the island, has been discounted. Fewer than five thousand animals in this sub-species are believed to exist, with number falling substantially between 1986 and 2006. The

occurs in the Republic of Congo in the tract of land on the right bank of the lower

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

and along the lower reaches of the River Alima to the mouth of the River Likouala-aux-Herbes, both being tributaries of the Congo River. The Niger Delta red colobus is found between the Forcados-Nikrogha Creek and the Sagbama-Osiama-Agboi Creek in the wet forests of the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...

region of Nigeria. Pennant's red colobus is an arboreal species and is found in both primary and secondary forest and also in marshy forest.

Biology

Like other red colobus monkeys, Pennant's red colobus lives in troops which may consist of twelve to eighty individuals occupying a

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

of 25 to 150 hectares. The troops have several males and a rather larger number of females and juveniles. They move through the canopy with agility, leaping from tree to tree and making use of the elasticity of the branches. The

gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...

period is probably about five months before a single infant is born. Pennant's red colobus monkeys have been little studied, but their diet is likely to be similar to that of other red colobus monkeys. They mainly consist of fresh leaves supplemented by flowers, fruit, and seeds. They have specialist teeth that can macerate leaves and break up tough but pliant unripe fruit and the seeds embedded in the flesh. Their multi-chambered stomach permits fermentation to occur and they can alternate between a leaf-based and a seed-based diet. They tend to select foliage with a high protein to fibre ratio and a low

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widel ...

content. One of their favourite food trees is '' Fleroya ledermannii''.

Status

The nominate subspecies ''P. p. pennantii'' is listed as "

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

" by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

in its

Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

because its range on the island of Bioko is less than and its population size is decreasing due to it being hunted for

. In 2006, the population on Bioko Island was estimated to be smaller than 5000 individuals. The Niger Delta red colobus is listed as "

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

" due to the fact that its habitat in the Niger Delta is being degraded by logging and the monkeys are hunted for food. Its population has declined by 80% during a period of thirty years. The

has declined dramatically in numbers and is also listed as "Critically Endangered", although its status was elevated to "Endangered" in 2019. After not having been seen since the 1970s, it was considered possibly extinct until it was spotted and photographed in 2015 in Ntokou-Pikounda National Park in the Republic of the Congo (the first photograph of ''P. bouvieri''). The subspecies is likely on the brink of

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1206339 Piliocolobus Mammals of Equatorial Guinea Mammals of West Africa Mammals of the Republic of the Congo Fauna of Bioko Critically endangered fauna of Africa Mammals described in 1838 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Species that are or were threatened by logging Species that are or were threatened by use as food Primates of Africa Taxa named by George Robert Waterhouse