Affiliation:
1. School of Environmental Sciences University of Liverpool Liverpool England
2. Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management University of Rwanda Butare Rwanda
3. School for the Environment University of Massachusetts Boston Massachusetts USA
Abstract
AbstractCercopithecus monkeys are a species‐rich genus generally considered arboreal frugivores with widespread distribution in sub‐Saharan African forests. We studied a largely undocumented species threatened by habitat fragmentation, Cercopithecus denti, during 3 months in 2017 in a small forest fragment of Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda. C. denti's diet was composed of about 58% leaves and 18% fruits. They spent most of their time 10–20 m above ground in secondary forest and open areas. This first systematic study of C. denti shows capacity for a highly folivorous diet, supporting arguments that Cercopithecus have flexible diets, likely enabling persistence in forest fragments.
Subject
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics