Grey-cheeked mangabey

The grey-cheeked mangabey (Lophocebus albigena), also called the white-cheeked mangabey, is an Old World monkey of the forests of Central Africa, with a range that runs from Cameroon south to Gabon. It is a dark monkey that looks, in overall shape, like a small and hairy baboon. The thick brown coat is almost black in the shade of its forest home, with a slightly reddish or golden mane around the neck, and the two sexes look alike although males are a little larger than females. It lives in swamp forest and primary forest and has also been recorded in secondary forest. Older accounts held that it stayed in the canopy, but habituated troops have since been watched collecting food on the forest floor. Fruit, especially figs, is its main food, with shoots, flowers and insects added, and other fruits taken in season. Troops number from five to thirty animals, with one or several adult males and no single dominant male. Young males leave the troop at adulthood while females stay where they were born. Three subspecies were once recognised; in 2007 Colin Groves raised them to species level and split one of them into two.