biology

Red-tailed monkey

Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed monkey rather than just read about it. In short: The red-tailed monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius), also known as the black-cheeked white-nosed monkey, red-tailed guenon, redtail monkey, or Schmidt's guenon, is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is found in Angola, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and possibly Burundi.

Key takeaways

Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed monkey to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Red-tailed monkey from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The red-tailed monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius), also known as the black-cheeked white-nosed monkey, red-tailed guenon, redtail monkey, or Schmidt's guenon, is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is found in Angola, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and possibly Burundi. The red-tailed monkey is usually black, red, or orange. Although native to this region, it has spread north and south as well as it can survive in different habitats and under different conditions. It is a distinct creature in its habitats and is gradually becoming endangered due to deforestation and over-exploitation through hunting and predation.

Taxonomy and classification There are five subspecies recognized for this species:

Cercopithecus ascanius ascanius Cercopithecus ascanius atrinasus Cercopithecus ascanius katangae Cercopithecus ascanius whitesidei Cercopithecus ascanius schmidti

Anatomy

Distinguishing features

The red-tailed monkey is named as it sounds: for the red coloration of the tail's underside. The reddish color increases from the base of the tail to the tip. These mammals have a white nose and very large, elastic cheeks used for storing food in their mouths. They have black or dark grey body fur.

Size Males are larger than the females. Body length ranges from 1 to 2 foot (12-24 inches), without the tail included, males being on the upper end of the scale and females being on the lower. Adult males also weigh between 7 and 10 pounds and females weigh slightly less between 6 and 8 pounds. The tail length can reach up to 35 inches long, which can be twice the body length for some red-tailed monkeys. The tail helps the monkeys achieve balance.

Behavior

Communication and vocalization Red-tailed monkeys communicate using different methods. Physical movements and vocal communication are used between members of social groups to demonstrate social dominance, submissiveness, or greeting. A soft, oscillating vocalization is used to indicate submission. Two red-tailed guenons will greet each other by touching their noses together, indicating affection or a willingness to play. Visual communication is used as a sign of warning to others to stay away and as a defense against predators. Red-tailed monkeys practice staring or staring with their mouth open. When these monkeys implement staring, they lift their eyebrows to retract the skin on their forehead which makes the skin on the face expand backwards revealing the underneath of their eyelids. On the dark fur background, their eyelids can be seen very easily by others and understand it as a display that the red-tailed monkey is being threatened and the other species needs to stay away. Head-bobbing is another threat display in which the monkey moves its head up and down. These types of communication can be used separately or together depending on how threatened the monkey feels to its surroundings. Other types of communication are used such as chemical and olfactory communication; however, not much information is available on this type of communication.

Feeding habits Red-tailed monkeys are primarily fructivorous, but are considered omnivorous because they will eat leaves, flowers, or insects in times where fruit is scarce. As they forage, these monkeys gather their findings in the expandable cheeks of their mouths. The pouches will hold a large amount of food where they can forage in one area and then carry their food away to another location where it is safe to consume without the threat of another stealing from them.

Social structure Red-tailed monkeys are social primates that form groups that can range in size from 7 to 30 individuals. The groups consist of one dominant male and females and their offspring, male or female juveniles. Groups generally stay together through all periods of the day and through life, except for males who reach maturity. These males will leave the group they were born into and go on to form all male groups with other red-tailed monkey males or survive alone until they can replace the dominant male of a different social group. The females practice allomaternal care in which the various females in a group will help take care of their own young as well as the young of other females in the group. Often, the different social groups will congregate for support from each other when food is unlimited and in abundance. Red-tailed monkeys have been observed interacting with blue monkeys, including interspecies grooming.

Activity and habitat Red-tailed monkeys are active in the early morning and evening which is characterized as diurnal activity. They act as important seed dispersers as they collect fruit and other food items. Their dispersal is throughout the tropical forest of in East and Central Africa ranging to Kenya and many areas of the Congo. The red-tailed monkey species is categorized in recognized subspecies and these subspecies have different ranges, the subspecies C. a. schmidti having the widest distribution from Congo into countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and the subspecies C. a. atrinasus having the smallest distribution restricted to a local habitat of Zovo, Angola. They are primarily arboreal but will come to the ground. In the trees, they are very active and travel at greater speeds than being on the ground. On the ground, they travel quadrupedally, on all four legs. While they show a dominating preference for being arboreal in activity and where they choose to rest, they forage on the ground and as a result, they spend an adequate amount of their time on the forest floor as well.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Red-tailed monkey

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed monkey

In research: Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed 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: Red-tailed monkey is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arboreal mammals, Fauna of Central Africa, Guenons, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed monkey in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed monkey out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Red-tailed monkey in simple terms?

Why does Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed 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 Red-tailed monkey.