Ethiopia's Exotic Monkeys

Another nature thread, there is just so much wonder in our world and no shortage of amazing creatures! Here is yet another species I have never seen and felt compelled to bring it on board to share.
Known as Geladas, these monkeys are found high in the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia. They are isolated and live in large herds. Once studied in the 70's, they were somewhat forgotten due to famine, drought and political turmoil.
They have one of the most varied set of vocal sounds and can be quite noisy as a herd. They graze mostly on grass and can be heard from great distances with some crazy falsetto cries.

Geladas are visually striking, with burning eyes and leathery complexions. Males have vampiric canines, which they frequently bare at each other, and their golden manes are the stuff of shampoo commercials. "They cry out to be photographed," says Fiona Rogers. She and her partner, Anup Shah, visited Beehner's camp in Simien Mountain National Park for a month to photograph the animals.

Wow! I am intimidated!!















Pictures Taken By Anup Shah

Geladas are visually striking, with burning eyes and leathery complexions. Males have vampiric canines, which they frequently bare at each other, and their golden manes are the stuff of shampoo commercials. "They cry out to be photographed," says Fiona Rogers. She and her partner, Anup Shah, visited Beehner's camp in Simien Mountain National Park for a month to photograph the animals.

Male geladas are the size of large dogs, weighing 50 to 60 pounds. Females are about half as big. Both sexes have a bald, hourglass-shaped patch of skin on their chests that telegraphs a male's social status and a female's reproductive stage. Depending on hormone levels, the color ranges from meek eraser pink to fiery red. Males' patches are brightest during their sexual prime, Beehner and her husband, University of Michigan biologist Thore Bergman, have found, and females' chest patches blister when they are in estrus. (They are also called "bleeding-heart baboons," though they are actually monkeys.)

www.smithsonianmag.com...



Man I'd love to see these things and the landscape in person! I hope you all enjoyed this peek into another species not so well known.

Peace,
spec

Mod Edit: No Quote/Plagiarism – Please Review This Link.

I love geladas !

I saw a programme about them a few years ago on the BBC.

What particularly struck me - apart from their visual appearance - was their amazing agility;

There are some extremely steep cliff faces in the Ethiopian highlands, but not only could the geladas perch on these sheer and rocky cliffs to have a sleep, but they also conducted fights along the treacherous rock faces !

reply to post by Sherlock Holmes

I'd love to see them in action on the rocks! I'd also like to hear them when they all start vocalizing.
Thank you for the reply and glad you enjoyed it.

spec

Just wanted to add a doc I found that has these monkeys in it. The villagers are at battle with the gelato over grains in the fields. The gelato, 600 in a troop, organize a decoy ploy to ransack the fields. These things fierce and crafty, with fangs longer than a lions!
The episode is from an awesome series on BBC called Human Earth: LINK
This episode with gelato:GELATO This an an excellent episode about people that live high up in the mountains called Thin Air.

Peace,
spec

More gelada action; this time, stealing crops from humans !

reply to post by Sherlock Holmes

Thanks Sherlock! That doc had a troop of over 600, and man they were aggressive!
Thanks for the vid and comment!

peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Nice thread

This photo I took myself of the only apes to live in the wild in Europe.
The Barbary Ape.

reply to post by Dr Cosma

Thanks Doc! Are those opposable thumbs at work on that guy?
Yea, I thought these monkeys were pretty exotic, and had never seen them before. I love the pic of the solo monkey atop the mountain at sundown.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist

I love the pic of the solo monkey atop the mountain at sundown.

Yea what a pic eh!
Absolutely beautiful. My fav one also, although I like them all.
You've got some nice threads mate

reply to post by Dr Cosma

You've got some nice threads mate

Thanks again Dr. Cosma, I appreciate it, and yea I kind of went off on the nature threads, but many have enjoyed and it was a pleasure putting them together.

Peace,
spec