If you’re headed to the Houston Zoo this month, you can visit a family of red-tailed monkeys, including parents Njeri and Kibali and three-year-old Peter Rabbit. Even though their fur can range from brown, black, and gray, the monkeys get their name from the underside of their tails being red, which can grow up to 35 inches long.
Red-tailed monkeys are native to central Africa, but survive in a variety of habitats including mountain, tropical, swamp, and lowland forest. In the wild, these social monkeys can travel in large groups of up to 25. They primarily eat fruit, but will also snack on leaves, flowers, insects, and natural gum from trees.
These monkeys store nearly as much food as they do in their stomachs using their large cheek pouches and eat it away from other animals who may try to steal from them. Red-tailed monkeys communicate using gestures, croaks, chirps, and other sounds.
