Tana River red colobus

The Tana River red colobus, Piliocolobus rufomitratus, also called the eastern red colobus, is a highly endangered primate endemic to a narrow zone of gallery forest near the Tana River in southeastern Kenya. As defined here it is a single species restricted to Kenya; like all red colobuses it was once treated as a subspecies of a widespread western red colobus, and some authorities still include the Ugandan, Central African and Thollon's red colobuses in it. It eats mostly leaves from a limited number of tree species, choosing mature leaves rich in nitrogen and low in fibre, with some unripe fruit, moss and seeds, and it sometimes eats soil, clay and charcoal to help digest toxins. It lives in small, quiet groups. The Tana River Primate Reserve was created in 1978 largely for it and the Tana River mangabey, yet forest is cleared for agriculture, and a 1987 survey found about an 80 percent decline since 1975.