Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Infraorder Catarrhini
Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
Family Cercopithecidae
Subfamily Cercopithecinae
Genus Allenopithecus
Species Allenopithecus nigroviridis
Also known as Allen's Swamp Monkey - a species of Guenon native to flooded forests in western and central Africa. They were discovered in 1923 and were the last primate genus discovered until Rungwecebus kipunji . Fleagle says that this species is the most primitive guenon, although it does have some interesting derived features (such as webbing between the fingers and toes).
It is a medium sized guenon that lives in multimale-multifemale groups of up to forty individuals. It is sexually dimorphic. It is mainly frugivorous, but eats leaves and invertebrates as well. Allen's swamp monkey occasionally forms mixed species associations with the red tailed monkey and Wolf's monkey.
Added Later: Be sure to check out Carls' post on Howler Monkeys which is slated to be a two or three parter. Part one is great...
Comments
A primate keeper once told me that when an Allen's Swamp Monkey dies it returns to life as a hardware salesman.
At our zoo they used to live in an old style concrete and glass exhibit. They unscrewed everything. They love to twiddle with metal objects. Our troop now lives in a more natural exhibit with lots of grass and a stream. (They share their area with black & white colobus monkeys.) The keepers still give them bolts and things to play with along with plenty of natural enrichment.
Posted by: Gerry L | August 19, 2006 11:39 PM
Yeah, one of the sources I used quoted various zoo keepers as saying that Allen's Swamp Monkey excels at taking things apart...
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | August 20, 2006 1:17 AM
I hope you don't mind that I beat you to the howler monkey :)
I wrote a paper a while back that I thought might make for a good series, so I adapted it for my blog.
http://hotcupofjoe.blogspot.com/2006/08/howler-monkeys-part-1-general.html
Posted by: cfeagans | August 20, 2006 3:35 AM
Hey, if you ever cover Macaques, let me know. The monkeys in your banner are Japanese Macaques. I took lots of photos of them that you're welcome to use.
Posted by: pough | August 20, 2006 11:34 PM
I'm sure I will get around to them - especially Japanese macaques which are really cool. I'll let you know when I do...
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | August 21, 2006 12:19 AM
Let me know if you are looking for material on Debrazza's monkeys. I pulled together a natural history for our enrichment team. Hard to find material specific to this particular guenon.
Posted by: Gerry L | August 21, 2006 11:24 PM
Will do!
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | August 22, 2006 11:35 AM