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Project Noah Nature School
Cercocebus atys lunulatus
The sooty mangabey lives in both old growth and secondary forests as well as in flooded, dry, swamp, mangrove, and gallery forests. The primate is arboreal and diurnal. They are omnivores whose diet includes primarily fruits and seeds, sometimes feeding on small animals. They live in social groups of four to twelve individuals, but occasionally groups as large as 95 individuals have been recorded.
It is believed that a strain of the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) jumped from this species to humans to become the HIV-2 virus. The sooty mangabey can also contract leprosy, as can humans, the Nine-banded Armadillo, the common chimpanzee, and the crab-eating macaque.
London Zoo
© Emma Simpson. All Rights Reserved.
Spotted on Apr 19, 2011
Submitted on Oct 19, 2011
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