In this section are copies of original works of art. All of them are dedicated to helping us live according to unconditional love and compassion, which is the foundation of our peaceful means of bringing true and lasting peace to all of God's creatures, whether they are human beings or other animals.
(Artwork - 150)
Wolf's Guenon (Cercopithecus wolfi)
While I mostly draw and paint birds, I do a few other things, like this central African native, the Wolf’s Guenon, also known as the Wolf’s Mona Monkey, or just Wolf’s Monkey. It is a highly arboreal monkey in the family Cercopithecidae, which contains a wide range of primate species native to Africa and Asia. The genus, Cercopithecus, contains a large number of somewhat similar species with long tails. Some have quite bold colour patterns. The tails are not prehensile, but do function as a counterbalance to animals as they leap through the branches.
Wolf’s Guenon has nothing to do with wolves, but was first made known to western science in 1887, when a live individual was obtained in central west Africa and brought to Europe by Dr. Ludwig Wolf, and, after it died in 1891, was formerly described as a new species. But it is one of a number of “mona” monkeys that show variations of a basic size, colour and patterning and sometimes hybridize. They are part of a subfamily that includes the very different looking baboons and macaques, although all have digestive systems adapted to diets high in fruit content, and other anatomical features, such as cheek pouches, that denote common, if distant, ancestry. This species has two distinct races, the nominate one, which occurs in nature between the Congo and the Sankuru River systems, and C. w. elgans, found between the Lomami and Lualaba Rivers.
Male Wolf’s Guenons seek to maintain “harems” of several females, who, in turn, get along amiably, groom each other and share maternal duties for each others’ young, while the male must continually compete against other males seeking dominance. One such group is usually hostile against other such groups, competing for best resources, but Wolf’s Guenon family groups may associate in cooperative and sociable fashion with other species of primates, including an ape, the Bonobo (“pygmy chimpanzee”) and the rather baboon-like Black-crested Mangabey. Bonobos have been known to hunt and kill baby guenons but only very rarely.
The painting is in acrylics on Russian birch, mounted on a basswood frame.
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Copyright © Barry Kent MacKay
Barry describes himself as a Canadian artist/writer/naturalist.
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