Black-and-white colobuses (or colobi) are Old World monkeys of the genus Colobus, native to Africa. They are closely related to the brown colobus monkeys of genus Piliocolobus. The word "colobus" comes from Greek κολοβός kolobós ("maimed"), and is so named because its thumb is a stump.
Colobuses are herbivorous, eating leaves, fruit, flowers, and twigs. Their habitat includes primary and secondary forest, riverine forest, and wooded grasslands; they are found more in higher density logged forests than in other primary forests. Their ruminant-like digestive systems have enabled these leaf-eaters to occupy niches that are inaccessible to other primates.
Colobuses live in territorial groups of approximately nine individuals, based upon a single male with a number of females and their offspring. Newborn colobuses are completely white. There are documented cases of allomothering, which means members of the troop other than the infant's biological mother care for it.
Colobuses are important for seed dispersal through their sloppy eating habits as well as through their digestive system. They are prey for many forest predators and are threatened by hunting for the bushmeat trade, logging, and habitat destruction.
There are five species of this monkey, with at least eight subspecies:
Colobinae (also called Leaf Monkey) is a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 59 species in 10 genera, including the skunk-like black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications split the colobine monkeys into two tribes, while others split them into three groups. Both classifications put the three African genera Colobus, Piliocolobus, and Procolobus in one group; these genera are distinct in that they have a stub thumb. The various Asian genera are placed into another one or two groups. Analysis of mtDNA confirms that the Asian species form two distinct groups, one of langurs and the other of the "odd-nosed" species, but suggests that the gray langurs are not closely related to either.