Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

Opportunistic omnivores (Estes 1990)

• Consumes abundant and available foods (Estes 1990)
• Feed primarily on plants, though they also eat some animals(Struhsaker 1967a; Isbell et al. 1998b)
  • Seasonal foods:
    • Leaves, stems, floral buds and flowers, fruits, seeds, and mushrooms
    • Flowers typically preferred (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)
  • Gum from plants eaten year round (Pasternak et al. 2013; Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)

Principal plants consumed

• Woody shrubs and trees
• Acacia spp, needle bush (Azima tetracantha), magic guarri (Euclea divinorum), southern llala palm (Hyphaene coriacea), and toothbrush tree (Salvadora persica) (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)
  • Rely heavily of Acaciaspp (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)
    • Eat leaves, thorns, flowers, pods and peas, gum, bark, and wood (Estes 1990)
  • Fever tree (Acacia xanthophloea) provides 17-57% of the diet in some areas (Isbell et al. 1998b; Struhsaker 1967a)
    • Gum of this tree is a large portion of the diet for vervets in eastern Africa (Isbell et al. 1998a, b)
    • Similar rates of gum consuption (A. karroo) among some South African vervets (Pasternak et al. 2013)
• Herbs
• Abutilon mauritianum, erect spiderling (Boerhavia erecta), Lycium europaeum, and dayflower (Commelina spp.) (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)
• Grasses
• Pennisetum mezianum, scutch-grass (Cynodon dactylon), and stargrass (C. plectostachyus) (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)

Animals consumed

• Invertebrates
• Beetles, termites, ants, moths and butterflies, grasshoppers, spiders, snails, and mantids (Struhsaker 1967a; Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013; Isbell et al. 1998b)
• Vertebrates
• Bird eggs and small chicks (Struhsaker 1967a)
• Do not scavenge carrion (Struhsaker 1967a)

Forage techniques

• Search in trees and on the ground (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)
• Move slowly, with no apparent leader (Struhsaker 1967b)
  • May cover 50 yards in 20 minutes (c. 137 m/hr or 450 ft/hr) (Struhsaker 1967b)
• Turn over sticks, small logs, and dried dung (Struhsaker 1967a)
• Scratch the ground (Struhsaker 1967e)
• Slap and leap at winged insects (such as flying termites and grasshoppers) which are caught between clapped hands (Struhsaker 1967a)

Food consumption

• Hands commonly pluck food and place it into the mouth(Struhsaker 1967a)
  • Apply mouth directly to scrape gum off trees (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)
• Teeth tear off portions of plants and break open invertebrate prey
  • Strip outer bark from stems (Struhsaker 1967a)
  • Remove snail shell prior to eating (Struhsaker 1967a)
  • Remove beetle wings; eat only the small, exposed muscle and discard the appendage (Struhsaker 1967a)
• "Clean" food items
  • Rub food between hands or on another object, similar to the patas monkey (van der Waal et al. 2012)

Water consumption (from Struhsaker 1967e unless otherwise noted)

• Commonly lower the body to the ground to place the mouth in water
• Dip hands into water and lick fingers (Struhsaker 1967e; Wrangham 1981)
• Lick rainwater from tree branches and the pelage of other vervets

Estes (1990)
Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe (2013)
Isbell et al. (1998a,b)
Pasternak et al. (2013)
Struhsaker (1967a,b,e)
van der Waal et al. (2012)
Wrangham (1981)