2 year old female, Ekuku, displaying her over-groomed crown. Her 1 year old brother, Kumba, still has his, but probably not for much longer unless habits change.
2 year old female, Ekuku, displaying her over-groomed crown. Her 1 year old brother, Kumba, still has his, but probably not for much longer unless habits change.
I doubt habits will change. Its a shame their 'crowning glory' gets to look unsightly like this- the Colchester ones do it too. I wonder if they have ever thought of 'shampooing' their heads with something nasty-smelling/tasting-e.g. teatree oil, that would probably do the trick, but they would no doubt still overgroom, but might do it on a less prominent part of the body.
I now have an image of her lying back over a basin being asked about her holidays Something like that would be worth a try though. Does the crown play a part in their behaviour at all, eg attracting mates?
Not sure.... The other Mangabey species don't have brightly-coloured crowns and in fact the Red-crowned is a subspecies of one of the others too. Mostly in Mangabeys I believe the light-coloured eyelids play a role in communication though.
