Mammals

Colobus Monkey

The Case of the Missing Thumb!

By Ryan Gulker, Living Collections Manager

Although this may sound like the title of a detective novel, once you've seen the new Angolan colobus monkeys in the Africa Live 2!, you will see that there's no mystery to be solved. You see, colobus monkeys, have no thumbs at all. Nature deprived this most arboreal of African monkeys of their vestigial thumbs Instead they have small bumps where their thumbs used to be. The absence of a digit is not the only thing out of the ordinary about these specialized monkeys. They are also folivores, which means that they almost exclusively feed on the leaves of trees. They also eat flowers, bark, and maybe a bug or two, but foods with high fiber is the way to go if you're a colobus monkey. The specialized nature of their diet also dictates that they have a stomach unlike most primates. Colobus monkeys have a complex or chambered stomach, which functions not too differently than that of a cow. Zookeepers have to monitor their diets and take special care that they don't get foods that could upset the delicate balance of their stomachs.

The most arresting physical characteristic of these medium-sized monkeys is their black and white coloration. Jet-black shiny hair is complemented by long silky white layers of fur on their backs and tails. Colobus monkey babies are uniformly white when they are born and start taking on the coloration of their parents at about three months of age.

The San Antonio Zoo strives to realize its core mission of conservation by providing financial support to the Colobus Trust. The Colobus Trust is an organization designed to promote the conservation, preservation, and protection of primates like the rare Angolan colobus monkey and its coastal forest habitat in southern Kenya.

The new monkey exhibit in Africa Live 2! is about 45 feet tall and is one of the tallest covered monkey exhibits in North America. You will be able to look at these handsome monkeys from two different levels. The main viewing is inside the Wings of Africa aviary and there is secondary viewing at treetop level on two sides. It will undoubtedly be one of the premier opportunities to see these amazing creatures at any zoo in the country.