Fun Diana Monkey Facts For Kids

It is always known that monkeys are greedy animals. Here we present to you old-world primate monkeys that are proactive in saving their groups and neighbors in their forests: Diana monkeys, the beneficial monkeys who love ancient forests with tall trees.

The Diana monkeys are the species of the genus Cercopithecus of the Cercopithecidae family. Their body anatomy consists of contrasting white and black colors. The upper body is black, and their chest, beard, neck, and white stripe runs across outer thighs are white. The Diana monkey's non-prehensile tail is usually longer than its body. They live in dominant ranking-based social groups. These monkey species are endemic to West Africa. The Diana monkey weight is gender-specific. Though the infant is well developed, the female is anxious about it. The Diana monkey female use alarm calls to warn against predators.

Their conservation status is Endangered. To protect the population, the Conservation of International Trade of Endangered Species has banned hunting. The World Heritage Site in mount Nimba protects and preserves this species.

If the above content increased your curiosity towards the species, read on. We have engaging content on the Howler monkey and Squirrel monkey too.

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What type of animal are Diana monkeys?

The Diana monkey is a primate species of the Cercopithecidae family, genus Cercopithecus. It is one of the old-world monkey species. The monkeys of this genus are referred to as guenons though all the monkeys may not carry the name at the end.

What class of animal do Diana monkeys belong to?

The monkey Cercopithecus Diana is a mammal and belongs to the mammalian class.

How many Diana monkeys are there in the world?

As mentioned, they are endangered in the conservation status red list of ICUN, though the exact count is unknown, this species is nearly becoming rare in its captivity.

Where do Diana monkeys live?

The Diana monkeys inhibit primary tropical and terrestrial forests. They are endemic to West Africa and regional to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Cote d'Ivoire.

What is a Diana monkey's habitat?

The Diana monkey habitat is preferably a primary forest. Tall trees play an essential role as they are arboreal and spend most of their time on the tree canopy. They occasionally climb trees. These monkeys are herbivores, and their food consists of fruits, flowers, and leaves. During nights these animals sleep on the higher section of tall trees and do not make nests.

Who do Diana monkeys live with?

The animals of this Cercopithecidae family are social, and they live in a group. The members in each group would range from 15-50.

Their social structure mainly consists of a dominant male, females, and their offspring — the male, when mature, tend to deviate from their natal group. The dominance hierarchy plays a vital role in social structure. The males and females compete aggressively with each other for ranking as the dominant position buys the privilege of resources and mating choices. The offspring of the high-ranking female often continues the legacy.

How long do Diana monkeys live?

The average lifespan of these Cercopithecus Diana is 20 years in the wild.

How do they reproduce?

Diana monkey females breed seasonally and reproduce annually. They are polygynous. Mating lasts for a short duration. The females signal readiness by presenting the reproductive parts before copulation.

The female gestation period is for five months, and they usually give birth to a single offspring or rarely two. The young are in mothers' care for six months. The female provides the young with all the nurturing. Even though the young are born in considerably well-developed anatomy, the mothers are anxious about them even in protective zoo conditions. At the age of puberty, the adult male disperses from their parent group, whereas females retain their mothers' hierarchy.

What is their conservation status?

The Diana monkeys are listed in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature as Endangered. Hunting, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation are the primary reasons for this outcome.

Their predators are crown-hawk eagle, leopard, and common chimpanzee.

What do Diana monkeys look like?

The Diana monkey is an old-world primate monkey with a slim body, long legs, and long tail.

The males are marginally larger than the females. The black face is defined by contrasting white cheeks and a white beard. Though their entire body is covered with black fur, the chest and inner arms are coated with white fur that extends as a white stripe over the outer thighs. Their back is a fusion of red and cream-colored fur. In addition, they have a significantly long tail with a diameter of 1.1-1.5 in and 19.8-29.5 in length. The length and weight of male Diana monkeys are 20-24 in and 11-12 lb, and that of females is 15.5-17.7 in and 8.5-11 lb.

How cute are they?

The Diana monkey has distinct features from appearance to behavior, communication, and social structure. They also contribute to ecology. All put together; the Diana monkey is an interesting animal.

How do they communicate?

These primates are social animals. They adapt to various signals to communicate in their range.

They use facial expressions for visual cues and different vocalizations as audio calls. In addition, their completely developed facial muscles and coloration grant various facial expressions for communication.

They use touch as a tactile signal to establish social relations in their range and grooming.

How big are Diana monkeys?

The Diana monkeys are medium-sized primates. Their length and weight are equal to that of Cercopithecus Roloway or the Roloway monkey. This Roloway monkey was recently evaluated to be subspecies of the Diana monkey.

How fast can Diana monkeys run?

The Diana monkeys are essentially not good runners. They are arboreal and reside mostly on trees.

How much do Diana monkeys weigh?

The Cercopithecus Diana male is somewhat bulkier than the female. The weight of male ranges from 11-12 lb, and that of the female is 8.5-11 lb.

What are the male and female names of the species?

The males and females are termed as male Diana monkey and female Diana monkey.

What would you call a baby Diana monkey?

A young baby Diana monkey is termed an infant. These young are playful in their forest groups.

What do they eat?

These primate monkeys are omnivorous, and their diet contains everything that trees have, from leaves, fruits, flowers, insects, and invertebrates.

Are they aggressive?

Though the infants are calm, the adult Diana monkeys get aggressive after reaching sexual maturity, and they are aggressive when they have a tiff for obtaining a dominance ranking. Both males and females compete equally for a deserving partner.

Would they make a good pet?

These primates are adorable at the infant stage, but the adult Diana monkey can become aggressive with humans in the process of endowing dominance. Also, these monkeys are potential carriers of viruses, yellow fever, and tuberculosis that are dangerous to human beings. It is not the best idea to have them as pets. These primates are conserved in African zoos, namely, Lincoln park zoo, Jackson zoo, so you could visit them there.

Did you know...

The Diana monkey obtained its name from the Goddess Diana, the guardian of woodlands and wildlife, as its crescentic brow is bear a resemblance to the crescent-shaped brow of the Roman goddess.

The Cercopithecus Diana primates are very energetic, and their noisy presence is felt predominantly in the forest.

These tree-dwellers hardly come down to the bottom of the tree and are active throughout the day.

These fruit eaters play a pivotal role in seed dispersal in the forest habitat.

The Diana monkey scream is deafening and noisy.

The Diana monkey skull is flat without the rostrum.

High-ranking females deliver high-ranking infants, making low-ranking females even more anxious about their young.

Fifty percent of the Diana monkey Liberia population is lost to hunting for meat. The Diana monkey Uganda is also in a vulnerable state due to hunting and habitat loss.

Diana monkey calls

Diana monkey communication involves vocal calls to signal a warning to the other monkeys in their range. These signals are called alarm calls. Though both males and females produce these threatening calls, the female Diana monkey signals are more precise. Their vocalization differs based on the type of predators. The troop members benefit from these warning alarms, but the neighbors on their range, like purple and olive colobus monkeys, recognize these signals and reciprocate. This act nurtures the friendship between the Diana monkey and the Red colobus.

What is special about Diana monkeys?

The Diana monkeys are unique from other species in their coloration and their peculiar crescent-shaped brow. They are arboreal and do not frequently climb down the trees to the ground. However, their vocal calls and alarms are useful for other neighbor species in their habitat.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other mammals from our gorilla fun facts for kids and capuchin monkey facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable diana monkey coloring pages.

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