A West African monkey that uses the upper levels of forest trees.
A dark body contrasts with a white throat and pointed white beard; the tail is long.
Male Diana monkeys alter both the calls they use and how they combine them. Stephan and Zuberbühler played predator sounds to wild males in Taï Forest, Côte d’Ivoire, where leopards and crowned eagles occur, and on Tiwai Island, Sierra Leone, where leopards had not been reported for at least 30 years. Responses to eagle sounds were similar at both sites.
At Taï, males arranged calls to leopard sounds differently from calls to general disturbances. On Tiwai, responses to leopard sounds resembled those to general disturbances. The basic call types were the same, but their sequences differed. The researchers proposed that experience while growing up may shape these sequences. The study compared males at two sites; it did not show that predator experience alone caused the difference.
IUCN Red List (IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group) · Endangered (EN) · Global
The 2019 global IUCN assessment classified the Diana monkey as Endangered (EN). It estimated that at least 30% of its primary habitat was lost across its West African range over about three generations, from roughly 1990 to 2018. Hunting for meat also continues, and the assessment suspected a population decline of 50% or more. The assessment date was 20 March 2019.