Sclater's guenon (''Cercopithecus sclateri''), also known as Sclater's monkey and the Nigerian monkey, is an

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

that was first described by

Reginald Innes Pocock Reginald Innes Pocock, (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British zoologist. Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's ...

in 1904 and named after

Philip Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an England, English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological ...

. It is an

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

and diurnal

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 ...

that lives in the forests of 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, ...

. It should not be confused with the closely related species, the white-throated guenon (''Cercopithecus erythrogaster''), which occurs in Nigeria and

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

. Sclater's guenon was formerly classified as a subspecies of the red-eared guenon (''C. erythrotis''). The diet of Sclater's guenon is unknown. The species is likely primarily a

frugivore A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...

that supplements its diet with other plant parts and insects, based on data from closely related species. Sclater's guenon was thought to be nearly extinct until the late 1980s. The species is now known to occur in several isolated populations between the

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

and Cross Rivers in southern Nigeria. This region falls in the Guinean Forests of the

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

biodiversity hotspot A biodiversity hotspot is a ecoregion, biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after ...

. The species does not occur in any officially protected areas, but three populations of Sclater's guenon are known to be protected by local people who consider the monkeys to have sacred status. Mostly because of hunting and

habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological proces ...

and loss, thus increasing population isolation and decline, Sclater's guenon is listed as a vulnerable species. Sclater's guenon is known to occur in captivity only at the Centre for Education, Rehabilitation, and Conservation of Primates and Naturehttp://www.cercopan.org in Cross River State, Nigeria.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20081011062636/http://www.cercopan.org/Primates/Guenons/sclaters.htm {{Taxonbar, from=Q391532 Sclater's guenon Mammals of West Africa Endemic fauna of Nigeria Sclater's guenon Taxa named by R. I. Pocock