Vervet Monkey

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Chlorocebus pygerythrus

Along with the Chacma Baboon, the Vervet Monkey must be South Africa’s best known indigenous primate. Male Vervets are considerable stronger built than the females, weighing in at an average of 6kg compared to females at 4kg. Including their tail, Vervet Monkeys are usually just over a meter long.

The cutest monkey in Hilltop
Dominant male vervet monkey showing off his weaponry
Ample opportunity to enjoy the antics of Skukuza’s vervet monkeys
Timbavati’s white vervet monkey
Vervet monkeys
Thoughtful Vervet Monkey
Grooming Vervet Monkeys
Vervet Monkey
Baby Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey youngster with a pod of some kind
Vervet Monkey

Vervet Monkeys inhabit coastal and mountain forests, woodland, bushveld, riverine thickets, and adjacent grasslands. They’ve adapted to suburban living in many of our towns and cities, and they’ll even forage in plantations and on beaches, provided there is sufficient natural vegetation nearby. Access to drinking water is a crucial habitat requirement for them. Vervet Monkeys follow an extremely wide diet, feeding on fruits and berries, seeds, pods, flowers, leaves, roots, bulbs, tree gum, grass, herbs, spiders and scorpions, snails, insects, eggs and small birds, other small vertebrates, and even marine organisms. Unfortunately they also quickly learn that humans are an easy source of food, either through deliberate feeding or irresponsible discarding of food waste, and can then become a dangerous nuisance.

Vervet Monkey
Vervet monkeys raid picnic sites next to the river
Vervet Monkey in a mangrove tree
Vervet monkey
Vervet monkeys
Vervet monkey in Crocodile Bridge
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey female with baby
Thieving Vervet Monkey with a stolen bounty (photo by Marilize)
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkey looking for mischief in Crocodile Bridge’s camping area
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey drinking from an airconditioner outlet

A highly gregarious species, Vervet Monkeys live in troops numbering from 8 to 140 members (usually around 25) made up of a dominant male, several other males, females (who have their own pecking order) and their young. Troop members have strong bonds of friendship and alliances with others of similar status in the group. Vervets are diurnal, being most active in the morning and afternoon and resting in the midday heat. At night they sleep huddled in small groups in high trees or on inaccessible cliffs. They spend about an equal amount of time foraging in the trees and on the ground.

Vervet monkey
Energetic youngsters
Energetic youngsters
Squabbling family members
Vervet monkey
Keep an eye open for the vervet monkeys while having a picnic at Mission Rocks
Vervet monkey
Monkey antics
Monkey antics
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey
Grooming Vervet Monkeys
Grooming Vervet Monkeys
Vervet Monkey

Female Vervet Monkeys give birth to a single baby – twins are very rare – at any time of the year, though most babies arrive in the spring or summer when food is more abundant, after a 7 month pregnancy. All troop members are very protective of the little ones. Females may live their entire lives in the troop they were born in, while males leave their maternal group at the age of about 4 years to join other troops, staying on average about 3 years with a troop before moving along to another again. Leopards, smaller wild cats, large raptors and pythons are the biggest predators of Vervet Monkeys, which can live to between 12 and 24 years old in the wild.

The cutest monkey in Hilltop
Vervet monkey
Vervet monkeys hiding from the wet weather (iSimangaliso 22122014)
Ample opportunity to enjoy the antics of Skukuza’s vervet monkeys
Ample opportunity to enjoy the antics of Skukuza’s vervet monkeys
Vervet monkey family portrait
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey
I did it my way…
I did it my way…
Vervet baby suckling (photo by Joubert)
Playful Vervet Monkey baby
Vervet Monkey
Young Vervet Monkeys

The Vervet Monkey occurs in a wide band from Somalia and Ethiopia in the north to South Africa, where they are found in all provinces and most of our conservation areas, though their occurrence in the arid west and open central parts of the country is restricted to major riverine arteries. They are regarded as a pest in farming communities and in suburbs, but being a widespread and abundant species the IUCN lists the Vervet Monkey as “Least Concern”.

Vervet Monkey
Cute little Vervet Monkeys – just look at that smile!
Peek-a-boo! Mother and baby Vervet Monkey
Grooming Vervet Monkeys
Vervet Monkey
Grooming Vervet Monkeys
Alarmed Vervet Monkey
Baby Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey (sitting on a thorn, perhaps!?)
Vervet Monkey
Dominant male Vervet Monkey
Vervet monkey waiting for a gap at our tent in Tlopi Tented Camp
Vervet monkey waiting for a gap at our tent in Tlopi Tented Camp
Vervet monkey waiting for a gap at our tent in Tlopi Tented Camp (photo by Joubert)
Vervet monkey jumping across the stream feeding into Tlopi’s dam
Vervet monkey jumping across the stream feeding into Tlopi’s dam
Vervet monkey jumping across the stream feeding into Tlopi’s dam
Vervet monkey jumping across the stream feeding into Tlopi’s dam
Vervet monkey jumping across the stream feeding into Tlopi’s dam
Vervet monkey jumping across the stream feeding into Tlopi’s dam
Vervet Monkey waiting for a lift at Bakubung Gate
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkeys admiring their reflections
Vervet Monkey
Young Vervet Monkey (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkey
Vervet Monkey (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkey at Kumasinga
Vervet Monkey at Kumasinga
Vervet Monkey at Kumasinga (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkey at Kumasinga (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkey at Kumasinga (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkeys gossiping (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkey in Mapungubwe National Park
Joubert got this photograph of a Vervet Monkey sneaking into Tlopi Camp by jumping across the electric fence spun over the entrance to camp
Young Vervet Monkey in Marakele National Park
Vervet Monkey portrait (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkey (photo by Joubert)
Vervet Monkey eating gum from a thorn tree (photo by Joubert)

24 thoughts on “Vervet Monkey”

  1. Pingback: Satara Summer 2021 – Primate Romps | de Wets Wild

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  9. Ted

    I guess their ears don’t grow much. Babies are big eared and the adults ears look about the same size. Don’t know if all monkeys are like that (we don’t have monkeys in England – at least not the animal type).

    Liked by 2 people

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  10. John

    It’s really a cute monkey. Monkeys are like us humans, take care of each other, and maternal instincts are very high in monkeys.
    I read about them that they are excellent swimmers as well. Very nice pictures you’ve taken, as usual. 🙂 I understand that you put a lot of work on your photos, and have a lot of patience.

    Liked by 2 people

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