Niger Delta Red Colobus

• Common Name: Niger Delta Red Colobus
• Taxonomy Classification Year: 1999
• Monkey Size: 53 to 63 cm (21 to 24 in)
• Skin Color(s): Rusty orange
• Habitat: Rainforest
• Diet: Herbivorous
• Native Countries: Nigeria

The Niger Delta red colobus^[1] (Piliocolobus epieni) is a critically endangered colobus native to the western part of the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria.

• The Niger Delta red colobus monkeys have gorgeous coloring. Their backs are rust-orange in color, while their faces, hands, legs, and parts of their upper back are black.
• Their stomach and arms are white. Their heads are relatively small, and they have round bellies.
• Like many other arboreal primates, they have very long arms and legs, which are essential to spending their lives leaping from branches.
• Their tail is also very long, helping them navigate their arboreal environment.
• Like other colobus monkeys, the Niger Delta red colobus monkey does not have thumbs. Instead, there is just a minor bump where the thumb would be.

• The scientific name of the Niger Delta red colobus, Piliocolobus epieni, comes from the local Ijaw language word for the species, “epieni“.
• These red colobus monkeys are arboreal and spend most of their lives in the treetops.
• They are quadrupedal and move gracefully through trees by leaping.
• They can sling themselves through gaps in the canopy by leaping from a thin branch.
• The Niger Delta red colobus monkeys live in groups consisting of several males and females, typically with a higher proportion of females.