biology

Mona monkey

Mona monkey is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mona monkey rather than just read about it. In short: The mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona) is an Old World monkey that lives in western Africa between Ghana and Cameroon. The mona monkey can also be found on the island of Grenada as it was transported to the island aboard slave ships headed to the New World during the 18th century.

Key takeaways

Mona monkey belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mona monkey to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mona monkey from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona) is an Old World monkey that lives in western Africa between Ghana and Cameroon. The mona monkey can also be found on the island of Grenada as it was transported to the island aboard slave ships headed to the New World during the 18th century. This guenon lives in groups of up to thirty-five in forests. It mainly feeds on fruit, but sometimes eats insects and leaves. The mona monkey has brown agouti fur with a white rump. Its tail and legs are black and the face is blue-grey with a dark stripe across the face. The mona monkey carries food in cheek pouches.

Description The male mona monkey has a head-and-body length of 410 to 630 mm (16 to 25 in) and a tail of 520 to 730 mm (20 to 29 in). The female's head-and-body length is 340 to 457 mm (13 to 18 in). The head has a brown crown, broad whitish brow band, grey mask of bare skin and bushy pale cheek fur. The upper parts of the body and the outer sides of the limbs are deep brown while the underparts and the insides of the limbs are creamy-white. On either side of the base of the tail are a pair of patches of white hair which closely resemble the ischial callosities found in baboons and other Old World monkeys in this position.

Distribution and habitat The mona monkey is native to the lowland forests of eastern Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and western Cameroon. It has also been introduced into Grenada and São Tomé and Príncipe. Although mainly a forest species, it is able to adapt to heavily degraded forest, gallery forest in savannah regions, and mangrove forest in the delta region of the Niger River, and is generally the commonest monkey near rivers.

Ecology The mona monkey is usually found in groups of about twelve individuals, with a single mature male, but larger aggregations also occur. The troop moves through the canopy foraging mainly for fruit, but also eating flowers, seeds and insects and other invertebrates. It is a vocal species with a harsh grating call, and the male issues a "ooer" alarm call. It often associates with other species of monkeys including Lowe's mona monkey (Cercopithecus lowei) and the crested mona monkey (Cercopithecus pogonias).

Status The mona monkey is a common and adaptable species. Its natural forest habitat has been affected by much habitat destruction and it suffers from being hunted for food. However the population does not seem to be declining significantly, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being near-threatened.

References

BBC Science and Nature

External links Weissella confusa Infection in Primate (Cercopithecus mona)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mona monkey

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mona monkey claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mona monkey before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mona monkey ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mona monkey

In research: Mona monkey appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mona monkey in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mona monkey is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arboreal mammals, Guenons, IUCN Red List near threatened species, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mona monkey outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mona monkey in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mona monkey means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mona monkey out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mona monkey in simple terms?

Why does Mona monkey matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mona monkey?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mona monkey.