Sooty mangabey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sooty mangabey |
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| The white-collared mangabey, a subspecies |
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Cercocebus
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| Cercocebus atys |
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The sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys) is a type of monkey. It lives in West Africa, in countries like Guinea Bissau, Gabon, Senegal, and Ghana. These monkeys are social animals. They live together in groups that usually have four to twelve individuals.
About Sooty Mangabeys
Sooty mangabeys are known for their dark, sooty-colored fur. They are Old World monkeys, which means they are part of a group of monkeys found in Africa and Asia. They spend a lot of their time on the ground, but they can also climb trees.
Health and Viruses
Sooty mangabeys can naturally carry a type of virus called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV). This virus is usually harmless to the mangabeys themselves.
Sometimes, viruses can move from animals to humans. This is called a zoonosis. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, people and sooty mangabeys live close to each other. Because of this close contact, the SIV virus from mangabeys has sometimes passed to humans. When this happened, it led to the creation of the HIV-2 virus. Another type of HIV, called HIV-1, came from a different animal, the common chimpanzee.
Sooty mangabeys can also get a disease called leprosy. Humans can get leprosy too. Other animals that can get leprosy include the nine-banded armadillo, the common chimpanzee, and the crab-eating macaque.
