Western red colobus[1] | |
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Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Primates |
Family: | Cercopithecidae |
Subfamily: | Colobinae |
Genus: | Procolobus |
Species: | P. badius |
Binomial name | |
Procolobus badius (Kerr, 1792) |
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Western Red Colobus range (green — extant, orange — possibly extinct) |
The western red colobus (Procolobus badius) is a species of Old World monkey found in West African forests from Senegal to Ghana.[1] All other species of red colobuses have formerly been considered subspecies of P. badius. It is often hunted by the common chimpanzee. In 1994, western red colobus monkeys infected many chimpanzees with Ebola virus when they were hunted/eaten by the same chimpanzees.[3]
This red colobus has three subspecies, including the nominate:[1]
P. b. waldronae is critically endangered, possibly even extinct. The other two subspecies are endangered.[2]