Chlorocebus pygerythrus

Happy Mammal Crush Monday!!!!

In honor of the ''big'' male who chased after me yesterday because I apparently got too close to HIS tree, today's #mammalcrushmonday goes to the Vervet monkey, Chlorocebus pygerythrus, you have guts, my friend, and very blue balls.

https://primatology.net/2011/03/09/the-semantics-of-vervet-monkey-alarm-calls-part-i/

No, I didn't kick the vervet, males are notorious for their bright blue colored scrotum which, serves a communication purpose to both competitor males and prospective mates. *fun fact* The 'brightness' of the scrotum fades when an animal loses social rank (M. Gerald, 2001).

Vervets are an old world monkey, native to Africa, spanning along the east coast from Somalia to S. Africa, although they have been introduced to Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas, and other tropical islands of the new world.

 Female vervets remain in their home groups throughout their lives while males often migrate to neighboring groups, which gives future offspring genetic variability. Each sex has their own dominance hierarchy within the group. Vervets are highly social primates, spending lots of time grooming one another and playing, through my observations, they don't wander too far from their groups. They also have been recorded to display spiteful actions toward one another such as destroying anothers food source, which is an uncommon trait in the animal kingdom (Horrocks & Hunte, 1981).

Often times on the compound the cute, yet extremely mischievous, vervets can be seen playing from tree to tree, snacking on macadamia nuts, avocados and whatever else they can find including stealing Sinnary's food. As previously mentioned, my latest interaction with the monkeys involved a male running at least 15 yards across the lawn toward me, me not realizing why the heck this guy was getting so close, and me walking faster out of sheer confusion (and a little intimidation). This reaction only delighted the guy and upon realizing this, after he had gotten about 2 feet away, I stopped, turned toward him, stomped my foot, and we both proceeded in own own directions.

*No vervets or humans were harmed in the writing of this post*

References:

Gerald, M.S. (2001) Primate colour predicts social status and aggressive outcome. Animal Behavior 61(3):559–566

Horrocks, J., W. Hunte (1981). "Spite; a constraint on optimal foraging in the vervet monkey Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus in Barbados". American Zoology 21:939.

https://primatology.net/2011/03/09/the-semantics-of-vervet-monkey-alarm-calls-part-i/

Balaenoptera musculus

Happy #MammalCrushMonday! Since it's been awhile since I've posted a #mcm AND it's the first mammal crush of the blog, it's gotta be big. That's why today's mammal is Balaenoptera musculus, the blue whale, the largest living mammal!

B. musculus is a member of the sub-Order Mysticeti, or baleen whales. So lucky for us, the largest animals in the world feed nearly exclusively on some of the smallest animals in the world, krill. A full-grown adult can eat up to 40 million krill in a day. Blue whales can travel at speeds up to 50 km/hour but typically they travel at the more modest speeds of 20km/hour. If that isn't enough reason to gloat, male blue whales have the largest penises in the animal kingdom, sizes reported from 8 to 10 feet long. However, they have a highly disproportionate brain to their massive..... bodies, weighing in at a whopping 15lbs, only 0.007% of their body weight. (Ladies, I know you're all thinking it... sounds like most men.)

Little is known about the mating behavior or breeding grounds, but scientists estimate they can live for up to 80 years, although the longest recorded study of an individual is 34 years. Orcas are the only natural predators of the blue whale, other than humans of course who greatly impacted their populations throughout history with whaling practices, which was banned in 1966. Today, the estimated world population of blue whales is between 5 and 12,000, the largest known concentration ranges from Alaska to Costa Rica.

#HappyMammalCrushing #mammalsarefreakingawesome