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Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) Fact Sheet: Population & Conservation Status

Population Status

Common and abundant in many areas (Kingdon et al. 2008)

  • Distribution patchy over its extensive range

Prone to local extinction (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)

  • Factors effecting regional declines
    • Heavy predation
    • Die-off of Acacia spp.
      • In Amboseli, park fences (to restrict human access) confined elephants; increased elephant traffic damaged trees and lowered sapling recruitment
      • Loss of sleeping and foraging habitat precede vervet population declines (Cheney and Seyfarth 1990)
    • Low female recruitment
    • Human encroachment
    • Habitat destruction

Conservation Status

IUCN Status

  • Least Concern (2022 assessment) (Butynski and De Jong 2022)
    • Wide geographical range
    • Population declines not significant enough to warrant listing in a higher threat category

CITES Status

Other Status

  • African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Class B (Kingdon et al. 2008)

Threats to Survival

No major threats (Kingdon et al. 2008)
Persecution by humans (from Kingdon et al. 2008)

  • Classed as vermin in parts of its range; shot and hunted by landowners
    • Farmers kill vervets that raid crops
  • Consumed as bushmeat in some areas
    • Turkana District, Kenya

Management Actions

Actions needed

  • Population surveys (Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe 2013)
    • Vervets live in small, isolated populations and few have been suitably studied
  • Further taxonomic research (Kingdon et al. 2008)
    • To assess the validity of proposed subspecies

Page Citations

Cheney and Seyfarth (1990)
Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe (2013)
Kingdon et al. (2008)

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