Monkey Vervet

The Vervet Monkey, sometimes simply known as the Vervet, is the common name of the species Chlorocebus pygerythrus, an Old World monkey in the family Cercopithecidae. (The common term ""vervet"" is also sometimes used to refer to all the members of the genus Chlorocebus.) The Vervet Monkey ranges throughout much of Southern and East Africa, being found from Ethiopia and Somalia south to South Africa. It is not found west of the Great Rift Valley or Luangwa River, where replaced by the closely related Malbrouck (C. cynosuros). The two have often been considered conspecific, or considered subspecies of a widespread C. aethiops.

The Vervet Monkey inhabits savanna lands and mountains up to 4,000 m (13,100 ft). The Vervet Monkey is mainly frugivorous, but it also supplements its diet with a variety of other foods, including leaves, seeds, insects and small rodents. It has been known to destroy crops in Kenya, and was classified as a vermin in South Africa, allowing it to be shot without previously obtaining a permit, up until 2003.

It commonly lives in groups or ""troops"" of 20 or more, however the size of the group is often smaller than 20. Its gestation period is 7 months with a single offspring produced and is known to have a life span of up to 20 years. The Vervet Monkey has three alarm calls, depending on the different types of threats to the community. There are distinct calls to warn of invading leopards, snakes, and eagles. In making an alarm call, a monkey attracts attention to themselves, increasing their personal chance of being attacked, an example of altruistic behaviour.