Blue monkey

The blue monkey, also called the diademed monkey, Cercopithecus mitis, is an Old World monkey of Central and East Africa. Its range runs from the upper Congo River basin east to the East African Rift and south to northern Angola and Zambia, with populations reaching as far as South Africa. Its taxonomy is disputed, and Sykes's monkey, the silver monkey and the golden monkey are often treated as subspecies. The coat is mostly olive or slaty grey, which can look blue, with a dark face, a pale or yellowish patch on the forehead that gives the diadem, a blackish cap and darker feet and forelegs. The body is 50 to 65 centimetres long, with a tail almost as long again, and males can reach 8 kilograms. It lives in evergreen and montane bamboo forest, mostly in the canopy, eats chiefly fruit and leaves with some insects, and lives in groups of one male with several females. It is hunted for bushmeat and loses habitat.