Diet
The vervet monkey eats a wide range of fruits, leaves, seeds and flowers. It also eats birds' eggs and young chicks, and insects such as grasshoppers and termites. In human-inhabited environments, it will eat bread and various crops, especially maize.
A list of some natural food plants and part of the plant eaten, in South Africa:
- Acacia erioloba - seeds and pods
- Aloe spp - nectar (flowers)
- Celtis africana - fruit
- Colophospermum mopane - seeds
- Deinbollia oblongifolia - fruit
- Euphorbia ingens - fruit
- Euphorbia tirucalli - fruit
- Ficus abutifolia - figs
- Ficus sur - figs
- Ficus sycomorus - figs
- Grewia caffra - fruit
- Harpephyllum caffrum - fruit
- Hyphaene coriacea - fruit
- Phoenix reclinata - fruit
- Protorhus longifolia - fruit
- Rhus chirindensis - fruit
- Sclerocarya birrea - fruit
- Strelitzia nicolai - soft parts of the flowers
- Ximenia caffra - fruit
- Ziziphus mucronata - fruit
Read more about this topic: Vervet Monkey
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