blue monkey

The blue monkey or diademed monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) is a species of Old World monkey native to Central and East Africa, ranging from the upper Congo River basin east to the East African Rift and south to northern Angola and Zambia. It sometimes includes Sykes', silver, and golden monkeys as subspecies. Subspecies Several subspecies are recognised: Cercopithecus mitis boutourlinii – Boutourlini's blue monkey, found in Western Ethiopia Cercopithecus mitis elgonis – Elgon blue monkey Cercopithecus mitis heymansi – Lomami River blue monkey, found in Congo Cercopithecus mitis kolbi – Kolb's monkey, found in Kenya Cercopithecus mitis mitis – Pluto monkey, found in Angola Cercopithecus mitis moloneyi – Moloney's blue monkey Cercopithecus mitis opitsthosticus Cercopithecus mitis schoutedeni – Schouteden's blue monkey, found in Congo Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni – Stuhlmann's blue monkey At times, some of these have been regarded as full species, and additional subspecies have been considered valid, while others are not recognized by all authorities. Description Despite its name, the blue monkey is not noticeably blue; it has little hair on its face, and this does sometimes give a blue appearance, but it never has the vivid blue appearance of a mandrill, for example. It is mainly olive or grey apart from the face (which is dark with a pale or yellowish patch on the forehead – the "diadem" from which the species derives its common name), the blackish cap, feet, and front legs, and the mantle, which is brown, olive, or grey depending on the subspecies. Typical sizes range from 50 to 65 cm in length, (not including the tail, which is almost as long as the rest of the animal), with females weighing a little over 4 kg and males up to 8 kg.