Vervet or Vervet Monkey

Vervet Monkey is widely spread over the African continent and they really like to reside in the humid rain forests, semi-desert environment or swamps from sea level to elevations up to 4500 m. According to an estimate, Vervet Monkey is discovered in 39 African nations while a single species of Vervet has also observed on the Cape Verde islands off the west coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean and on a number of Caribbean islands in the West Indies. The biological name of Vervet Monkey is ‘Chlorocebus pygerythrus’ which falls below the family Cercopithecidae. The term “Vervet” is also utilized to refer to all the members of the genus Chlorocebus.

Vervet Monkey. Photo : Manuele Fusto

There are five distinct subspecies of Vervet Monkey:

• Chlorocebus pygerythrus excubitor
• Chlorocebus pygerythrus hilgerti  ( Kenya )
• Chlorocebus pygerythrus nesiotes
• Chlorocebus pygerythrus pygerythrus ( South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland )
• Chlorocebus pygerythrus rufoviridis ( Mozambique and Uganda )

A loved ones of vervets

Vervet Monkeys are also merely referred as Vervets. Vervets move quadrupedally and they are equally as comfy on the ground as they are in the trees. They are semi-terrestrial and semi-arboreal, spending time feeding and traveling on the ground in the course of the day and retreating to the trees to sleep at evening. The diet of Vervets incorporate , fruits , seeds , leaves figs. At times Vervets are even observed whilst eating the bird’s eggs, young chicks and insects. Vervet Monkeys  are sexually dimorphic. The male Vervets weigh averaging 5.5 kg (12.1 lb), and measure averaging 490 mm (1.61 ft) from the top of the head to the base of the tail. The female Vervets weigh averaging four.1 kg, and measure averaging 426 mm (1.40 ft). The average life span of Vervet or Vervet Monkey is 13 years.