The grivet monkey ( Chlorocebus aethiops aethiops) is an Old‐World primate Monkey species distributed on the east of the White Nile in Sudan to Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. This study was conducted from February to July 2024, during both the wet (June–July) and dry seasons (February–March), and it aimed to assess the contribution of anthropogenic and semianthropogenic food sources to the diet of grivet monkeys in and around Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources. Instantaneous scan sampling method was used at 15‐min intervals for up to 10‐min duration. Totally five groups were identified primarily by group size, natural marking, sex composition, geographic location, and aggressiveness. Line transects method and plot sampling were used to collect data on the availability of plant‐based food items. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics such as one‐way ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis test, and Mann–Whitney U test were used to analyze data. They utilized 13 food sources grouped into seven semianthropogenic foods; five anthropogenic foods and one bark during the entire season. On average, fruit 26 ± 2.5% comprised the highest percent proportion of their diet, whereas “roasted grain” (0.1 ± 0.1%) comprised the least. To examine the nutritional quality of food preference, proximate analysis was conducted. The feeding preference of grivet monkeys was examined by high nutritional contents especially high crude protein, moisture contents, and availability of food. From the semianthropogenic food, Psidium guajava were the most preferred plant species, while Mangifera indica was the lowest preferred plant species. Injira, bread, barks, pasta, and roasted grain contributed to the diet of grivet monkeys. Due to the existence of food competition, the preference extent of anthropogenic food was ranked by key informants by purposive sampling technique. Therefore, bread was a highly preferred and roasted grain was least preferred food consumed by the grivet monkey. Grivet monkey consumes more food sources during the dry season than in the wet season. Due to the existence of low‐quality and natural food in the human‐dominated area, grivet monkeys pushed to feed anthropogenic and semianthropogenic foods. Therefore, the concerned body and regional governments need to take immediate action to stop deforestation as well as rehabilitate the natural forests and sustainable management must be needed for the top preferred plant species to maximize the consumption of the grivet monkeys.
Alemneh et al. (Thu,) studied this question.