Red-capped mangabey

Red-capped mangabeys master the art of making eyes at you! An outstanding feature of mangabeys is their light to white eyelids.

characteristics:

More cats than dogs?
Mangabeys face scientists with problems: are they to be considered rather lemurs or dog-headed monkeys? One thing is certain: there are four kinds of mangabeys: white-collared or red-capped, sooty, golden-bellied, and grey-cheeked mangabeys. All of them live in Africa on trees, although the red-capped mangabeys will make excursions to the ground if there are peanuts to be found.

Boy group
Mangabeys are true artists of song, even if it is a bit of a one-syllable one. The call of the males sounds somewhat like hon-hon and is a great background for the daily jungle concert, especially in the morning. The necessary resonance comes from a special bag that male mangabeys have in their throats.

Highly expressive
An outstanding feature of mangabeys is their light to white eyelids. When they look down, their lids light up like signal fires in their otherwise dark faces. In the jungle twilight these quickly moving animals use these flares as signalling tools and means of communication.

Lemur love
Young mangabeys are very affectionate and want to be hugged and held continually. The little ones then comb the protecting fur of their elders continually. This gesture is proof of affection, however, and is not part of delousing at all. As a matter of fact the little ones are looking for salty dandruff - a delicacy for mangabeys.

unbelievable but true:
Mangabeys came by their name because of a mistake. Presumably the first animals of this kind were shipped from the port of Mangabe on Madagascar. Yet there are no monkeys on Madagascar, only lemurs.