The Ruwenzori colobus (''Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii''), also known as Ruwenzori black-and-white colobus, is a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the

Angola colobus The Angola colobus (''Colobus angolensis''), Angolan black-and-white colobus, or Angolan colobus is a primate species of Old World monkey belonging to the genus ''Colobus''. Taxonomy There are six recognized subspecies and one undescribed su ...

. This

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

is distributed from the Afromontane forests of the

Ruwenzori Mountains The Rwenzori (also known as the Ruwenzori, Rwenzururu or Rwenjura) are a mountain range, range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruw ...

across the mountains in

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

and

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

to the northern shore of

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

Taxonomy

In 1901,

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...

described two skins of Ruwenzori colobus

zoological specimen A zoological specimen is an animal or part of an animal preserved for scientific use. Various uses are: to verify the identity of a (species), to allow study, increase public knowledge of zoology. Zoological specimens are extremely diverse. Exampl ...

s that were collected at the northwestern slopes of the

in Bwamba Country of western Uganda. Thomas considered it a species using the scientific name ''Colobus ruwenzorii''.

Characteristics

The Ruwenzori colobus is black with hair on the shoulders between long. Its tail is also black and greyish-white at the end. It has white bushy tufts on the cheeks. The white hair on the forehead forms a crest.

Distribution and habitat

The Ruwenzori colobus occurs at

Lake Nabugabo Lake Nabugabo is a small freshwater lake in Uganda. Location The lake is in Masaka District, Central Region of Uganda, approximately , by road, east of the town of Masaka. Overview Lake Nabugabo is a satellite lake of Lake Victoria, being onl ...

and Rwenzori Mountains National Park in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. Troops of 300 to 400 individuals inhabit Rwanda's

Nyungwe National Park The Nyungwe Forest () is located in southwestern Rwanda, on the border with Burundi, where it is contiguous with the Kibira National Park to the south, and Lake Kivu and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. The Nyungwe rainforest is ...

. Some authors reports indicate that it perhaps also occurs in some

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

n regions.

Ecology and behaviour

The Ruwenzori colobus is a highly arboreal and acrobatic leaf-eater. Its diet consists of about two thirds of leaves and one third of fruit and seeds. Although all ''Colobus'' species are very sociable, they usually move on the troops of several hundred animals.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q12758412 Mammals of Rwanda Mammals of Tanzania Subspecies Mammals described in 1901 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas