The malbrouck is a primate

Primate

A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...

 from Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 that belongs to the genus Chlorocebus

Chlorocebus

Chlorocebus is a genus of medium-sized primates from the family of Old World monkeys. There are six species currently recognized, although some classify them all as a single species with numerous subspecies...

. The species is sometimes classified as a subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the Vervet Monkey

Vervet Monkey

The vervet monkey , or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa. The term "vervet" is also used to refer to all the members of the genus Chlorocebus....

 (C. pygerythrus), or of the widespread Grivet

Grivet

The grivet is an Old World monkey with long white tufts of hair along the sides of the face. Some authorities consider this and all of the members of the genus Chlorocebus to be a single species, Cercopithecus aethiops. As here defined, the grivet is restricted to Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti and...

 (C. aethiops).

Physical characteristics

The malbrouck is a slim, agile primate with long limbs and a long tail. The fur is olive-grey. The breast and underparts are white, as well as the cheeks and eyebrows, which surround the bald, pale-blotched face. The eyes are brown. The genitals are brightly colored; the scrotum

Scrotum

In some male mammals the scrotum is a dual-chambered protuberance of skin and muscle containing the testicles and divided by a septum. It is an extension of the perineum, and is located between the penis and anus. In humans and some other mammals, the base of the scrotum becomes covered with curly...

 of the male is blue, the penis

Penis

The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...

 is red. Males are about twenty percent larger than females.

Distribution and habitat

The malbrouck is found in central and south-central Africa, ranging from the Great Rift Valley

Great Rift Valley

The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...

 in DR Congo west to the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 coast and south to northern Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 and Zambia

Zambia

Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....

 west of the Luangwa River

Luangwa River

The Luangwa River is one of the major tributaries of the Zambezi River, and one of the four biggest rivers of Zambia. The river generally floods in the rainy season and then falls considerably in the dry season...

. It lives in marshy forest, savanna-forest and montane forest up to an altitude of 4,500 m (14,750 ft).

Behavior

The malbrouck is a diurnal animal

Diurnal animal

Diurnality is a plant or animal behavior characterized by activity during the day and sleeping at night.-In animals:Animals that are not diurnal might be nocturnal or crepuscular . Many animal species are diurnal, including many mammals, insects, reptiles and birds...

 that lives in large groups, consisting of six to more than 50 animals. The number of males and females is usually about the same. Each group has its own territory

Territory (animal)

In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...

, the size of which depends on the amount of available food. The Malbrouck has a wide range of sounds and gestures it can use to communicate with other members of a group.

Diet

The diet of this omnivorous species consists of fruit, seeds, flowers, gum, invertebrate

Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...

s, egg

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

s, chicks and lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

s. Vegetable food forms the largest part of the diet in most areas.