habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
This species is present in a wide variety of savannah, open woodland, and forest-grassland mosaics, where it is dependent on water availability (it must drink daily) and trees for food and cover. It occurs in both high rainfall habitats such as the coastal dune forests of KwaZulu-Natal and lower rainfall areas such as the riverine woodland areas in the Northern Cape (Skinner & Chimimba 2005; Isbell & Jaffe 2013). It is an extremely adaptable and versatile species able to persist in secondary and/or highly fragmented vegetation, including cultivated areas, and sometimes found living in both rural and urban environments.Vervet Monkeys are extremely social, living in troops within which adult males form a clear dominance hierarchy. They are largely vegetarian (wild fruits, flowers, leaves and seeds) but are also known to feed on invertebrates, birdsâ eggs, birds, lizards, rodents and other vertebrate prey. In agricultural areas, they can become pests by eating beans, peas, young tobacco plants, vegetables, fruit and various grains (Skinner & Chimimba 2005).
Ecosystem and cultural services: Vervet Monkeys are good vectors of seed dispersal. Seeds are ingested as food and pass through the monkeyâs digestive system intact and are excreted some distance away from where they were originally consumed. Foord et al. (1994) found that they aid succession in rehabilitating dune forests by dispersing seeds from unmined to previously mined area.
