Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas) Fact Sheet: Distribution & Habitat

Geographic distribution

• Tropical Africa (Isbell 2013)
• Widespread below the Sahara Desert to above the tropical forest belt
• Nearly span the African continent west to east
  • Western-most population reaching Dakar-Yoff, NW Senegal
  • East to Ethiopia's Lake Tana
• Isolated populations on the Aïr Massif, Niger and some districts of Kenya and Tanzania (Isbell 2013; Kingdon et al. 2008)

Sub-specific distribution

• Erythrocebus patas baumstarki- Tanzania, Serengeti and Athi Plains and the west side of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Mittermeier et al. 2013)
  • Not well documented
• E. p. patas- sub-Saharan Africa from southern Mauritania and Senegal to Chad and Central African Republic (Mittermeier et al. 2013)
  • Isolated populations in Aïr Massif of northern Niger and the Ennedi Massif, Chad
  • Introduced into southwestern Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean - see Introduced Population (Gonzalez-Martinez 1998)
• E. p. pyrrhonotus - Southern Sudan, north to Nubia; western Ethiopia; northern Democratic Republic of Congo; northern Uganda; Kenya (Mittermeier et al. 2013)
• E. p. villiersi- Niger, from Aïr and north of the bend of the Niger River (Mittermeier et al. 2013)
  • Uncertain distribution

Habit

• Terrestrial: spends most of time on the ground (Hall 1966; Isbell 2013)
• Climbs trees on occasion in daylight and to sleep at night (Mittermeier et al. 2013)

Habitat type

• Open grassland, savanna, and woodland (Isbell 2013)
• Dominant plant species vary across the range
  • In Cameroon's Kala Maloue National Park: Zornia glochidata and Panicum spp. - grassland habitat (Isbell 2013)
  • In Uganda's Murchison Falls National Park: Acacia sieberiana, Tamarindus indica, and Combretum aculeatum - woodland habitat (Isbell 2013)
  • Kenya and Tanzania - Acacia drepanolobium, Pennisetum mezianum, Pennisetum stramineum, and Themeda triandra - poorly drained, seasonally waterlogged vertisolic soils (Isbell 2013)

Precipitation range

• c.250-1435 mm (Isbell 2013)
• Drink water daily; restricted to locations with permanent water sources in drier habitats (Isbell 2013)

Altitude range

• 0-2050 m (Isbell 2013)
• Typically at lower elevations (Mittermeier et al. 2013)

Patas monkey distribution. Adapted from www.d-maps.com according to IUCN fact sheet.

Hall (1966)

Isbell (2013)

Kingdon et al. (2008)

Mittermeier et al. (2013)