Blue monkey
Cercopithecus mitis Wolf, 1822
The blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) is a species in the family Cercopithecidae, order Primates. Recorded adults weigh 4.21 kg to 6.93 kg and live up to 27.1 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the blue monkey
- Weight
- 4.21 kg – 6.93 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 27.1 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 37.8 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 137 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4.58 years – 5.05 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the blue monkey live?
Not recorded
What is the blue monkey?
The blue monkey or diademed monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) is a species of Old World monkey native to Central and East Africa, ranging from the upper Congo River basin east to the East African Rift and south to northern Angola and Zambia and populations further south down to South Africa. The taxonomy of this species has been disputed and Sykes' monkey, the silver monkey and the golden monkey are often regarded as subspecies.
From the Wikipedia article “Blue monkey” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blue_monkey&oldid=1374516244), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the blue monkey endangered?
The blue monkey is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the blue monkey classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderPrimates
- familyCercopithecidae
- genusCercopithecus
- SpeciesCercopithecus mitis Wolf, 1822
Other names and names in other languages (38)
- Diademed monkeyEnglish
- Diademed monkeyEnglish
- Gentle monkeyEnglish
- Golden monkeyEnglish
- Golden monkeyEnglish
- SamangoEnglish
- SamangoEnglish
- Samango monkeyEnglish
- Somango guenonEnglish
- Sykes' monkeyEnglish
- Sykes' monkeyEnglish
- Sykes’s monkeyEnglish
- Samango-aapAfrikaans
- سعدان أزرقArabic
- غينون أزرقArabic
- نسناس أزرقArabic
- kočkodan diadémovýCzech
- Sykes abeDanish
- DiademmeerkatzeGerman
- Γαλάζιος ΚερκοπίθηκοςGreek
- Cercopiteco de diademaSpanish
- sinimarakattiFinnish
- Cercopithèque à diadèmeFrench
- fejdíszes cerkófHungarian
- Cercopiteco dal diademaItalian
- ブルーモンキーJapanese
- N’budi ya NdowbeKimbundu
- Vainikuotoji markataLithuanian
- DiademmarekattNorwegian Bokmål
- DiadeemmeerkatDutch
- koczkodan czarnosiwyPolish
- Macaco-azulPortuguese
- Macaco-de-colarinho-brancoPortuguese
- Macaco-pretoPortuguese
- Голубая мартышкаRussian
- DiademmarkattaSwedish
- ลิงสีน้ำเงินThai
- 青長尾猴Chinese
Relatives of the blue monkey
Other species in the same genus Cercopithecus.
Lesula
Cercopithecus lomamiensis
Diana monkey
Cercopithecus diana
De Brazza's monkey
Cercopithecus neglectus
Mona monkey
Cercopithecus mona
Red-tailed monkey
Cercopithecus ascanius
Roloway monkey
Cercopithecus roloway
CompareBlue monkey vs LesulaBlue monkey vs Diana monkeyBlue monkey vs De Brazza's monkeyBlue monkey vs Mona monkey
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the blue monkey?
An adult blue monkey weighs 4.21 kg – 6.93 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the blue monkey endangered?
The blue monkey is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the blue monkey live?
The blue monkey has a recorded lifespan of 27.1 years.
How long is the blue monkey pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 137 days.
What kind of animal is the blue monkey?
The blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) belongs to the family Cercopithecidae in the order Primates.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-monkey
“Blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-monkey.
@misc{blue_monkey_2026,
title = {Blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/blue-monkey},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}