Eastern black-and-white colobus (COLOBUS GUEREZA) (CERCOPITHECIDAE) are very beautiful and agile. They have a white beard, a white mantle and a large tuft on the end of the long tail. Colobus are diurnal and highly arboreal animals of tropical forests. Their forelimbs and hind limbs are designed for grasping. The thumb is rudiment and opposable ("colobus" means "crippled" in Greek). Their hands work as prehensile hooks and enable monkeys to jump and leap through trees with great agility and speed. The tail serves as a balancing organ.

The diet consists of leaves, flowers and fruits. Their stomach is large and has pockets in the walls for dealing with bulky leafy food. Colobus monkeys live in small social groups. Females usually give birth to 1 young, twins are rare. Their fur is pure white probably to be well visible in a dense forest. Infants are often handled not by mother but by other members of a group. Such, so called "aunt-behaviour" enables young females to adopt parental behaviour. In addition, the mother has more time to feed. The age of sexual maturity in this species is 4-6 years.

These charming monkeys are very rare now as they have been hunted for their fur. In the near past colobus practically have been exterminated by hunters. For example, in 1892 170000 colobus' skins were exported from Africa.