The mona monkey is an arboreal monkey of West and Central African forests. It searches for food in the middle and upper parts of trees.
Its back is reddish brown, while the upper face is blue-gray. A white band across the forehead and a pale muzzle are also prominent.
Mona Monkeys also live in forests in southern Benin. Researchers studied their foods in the Gnanhouizounmè community forest during the minor wet season of 2021 and the major dry season of 2022. Each observation period lasted 31 days, as the team followed groups in the trees and recorded the plants and plant parts eaten. The forest consists of one 6-hectare and one 20-hectare fragment.
The monkeys fed on 22 plant species, with fruit as the leading food item. Four plants made up much of the observed diet: Ceiba pentandra, Dialium guineense, oil palm, and Spondias mombin. A diet-diversity index was 2.09 in the wet season and 1.74 in the dry season. The low seasonal overlap showed how feeding shifted with the resources available in this forest fragment.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The monkeys sometimes moved from the study forest into bordering farms to eat sweet potato, cassava, and maize. The authors identify crop-raiding as a source of human–wildlife conflict in the area.