Blue Monkey (Cercopithecus mitis)
The blue monkey is the most widespread forest guenon in east Africa — uniform dark blue-grey in color except for its white throat and chest patch, with thick fur and backward-projecting hair on its forehead.
The blue monkey is common in most Ugandan forests, where it lives in troops of between four and 12 animals and frequently associates with other primates. It is also known as the diademedguenon, samango monkey, Sykes’s monkey, gentle monkey and white-throated guenon (the last regarded as a separate species by some authorities).
Over 20 races are identified, of which three are found in Uganda, including the striking and very localized golden monkey, which is more-or-less restricted to bamboo forest in the Virunga Mountains.
Blue monkeys occur in all but two of Uganda’s national parks (Murchison Falls and Lake Mburo being the exceptions) and in practically every other forest in the country.